


Of peace and war

by Glitch_lord_of_void, RuneTek



Series: mundum aeternum [4]
Category: Sonic Boom (Cartoon), Sonic Underground, Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Ashen Romance | Auspistice, Assassination, Assassination Attempt(s), Black Markets, Cleansing the world of its corruption, Corruption, Cults, Cybernetics, Cyborgs, Dimension Travel, Disembowelment, Drug Use, Elections, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Manipulation, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Finitevus♧scourge♧zonic, Gaslighting, Graphic Description of Corpses, Human Sacrifice, M/M, Minor Character Death, Murder, Near Death, Old Age, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Project enerjak, Public Display of Affection, Public Hand Jobs, Public Sex, Radiation induced magic, Reality is a simulation, Recreational Drug Use, References to Addiction, References to Depression, Reluctant friends, Robotisisation, Sacrifice, Scourge◇Finitevus, Scourge♡♤zonic, Threesome - F/M/M, Violence, War, Wrongful Imprisonment, breaking the cycle, you know the drill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:35:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 69,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27451348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glitch_lord_of_void/pseuds/Glitch_lord_of_void, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuneTek/pseuds/RuneTek
Summary: After the blaze incident,  time is taken to reinforce the strength of the city. But can our heroes survive when war threats come from the last stronghold of humanity, and from the army of the dead?Only time can tell
Relationships: Antoine D'Coolette/Bunnie Rabbot, Mephiles the Dark/Shadow the Hedgehog, Metal Sonic/Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower/Silver the Hedgehog, Scourge the Hedgehog/Zonic the Zone Cop
Series: mundum aeternum [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782283
Kudos: 6





	1. A new guardian

Scourge opens his eyes, his head pounding. "Might've overdone the drink last night... best night ive fucking had"

Sonic groans from beneath him "scourge shut up , my head hurts too much "

Scourge tries to move but feels a heavy weight on top of him, he looks down to find blue cuddled up against his chest. 

Scourge studies blues sleeping face, expecting a peaceful looking face, but instead sees blues brows furrowed and small tears running down his face. 

Scourge instinctively puts his hand carefully on blues forehead, watching blue flinch slightly. Scourge moves his hand between blue's ears and carefully rubs the quills under his hand.  
Scourge smiles, seeing blue relax slightly into scourges petting. 

Scourge chuckles slightly, remembering how only about a month ago he was fully prepared to kill any version of sonic he met, especially zonic or alpha prime sonic... and now here he is, sandwiched between two sonics ,one of which resembles alpha prime sonic, and actually enjoying the closeness he never realised he wanted. 

Scourge smiles as blue softly nuzzles his chest, wondering slightly about what blue was dreaming about. 

Zonic shuffles over, cuddling up to scourge on the other side. Scourge smirks closing his eyes ears twitching when he hears another Sonics voice in the corridors, accompanied by a feminine voice...the voice sets off slight alarm bells, reminding him of rosy's voice...  
Scourge takes a deep breath, remembering that he killed her...

Scourge glances over at the doorway. He sees a tall version of sonic who is accompanied by what scourge assumes to be whatever dimension he's from's version of Amy. 

Scourge sighs, relaxing against the various Sonics around him. 

"Yo, any of you guys know where Knuckles is ? err- 'our' version of Knuckles"boom sonic asks the pile of hungover sonics.

Scourge chuckles "last i saw him he was groping rouge over in the corner "

Boom sonic raises an eyebrow "groping? You know ever since we have seen you guys you've really tarnished the innocence of our little townsfolk ... don't even want to know where Sticks has been these last few weeks "

Scourge smirks "tarnished you say? How so?"

Boom sonic , looks uncomfortable, trying to force himself to say the terrible things that have happened..."on multiple times i had been called by various villagers to retrieve my brother and his robot boyfriend from performing ... certain things on each other in the shops...and streets... and my own bed...even when we're visiting eggman ... poor eggheads more traumatized by this than anyone else "

By this point Scourge has brought on such hysterics that his laughter wakes the other Sonics in the pile "your town is changing bro, embrace it! It's not that bad"

"Ugh, sure enjoy your procreation. Don't cry to my village when your the father to 10 kids by different mothers" Boom Sonic leaves to the corner.

When he eventually arrives, the walk allthough short felt like an eternity via tripping over naked bodies on the floor in predicaments he'd rather not think about, he finds his Knuckles asleep with a post it note with a purple kiss attached to his forehead, a calling card from Rouge the bat allthough he didn't know it.

"Hey Knux, rise and shine sleeping beauty, when ya coming home?" Boom Sonic states shaking boom Knuckles with his shoe.

Boom knuckles swats boom sonic away "wrong house, no newspapers " rolling over, facing away from boom sonic. 

Knuckles wakes up on the floor, dragging himself to the wheelchair next to the couch boom knuckles is on "help me up and ill wake up "

Boom sonic shrugs and helps the paralysed echidna into his wheelchair. 

Knuckles smiles, tapping boom knuckles on the shoulder "knuckles quickly, the master emerald is under attack!"

Boom knuckles springs to his feet "where?"

Knuckles chuckles "good job your training will serve you well, but your friend wanted you awake, you weren't responding "

"Training? What is all this Knuckles?" He gestures to the post it note "when are you coming home?"

"Home? I am home. I guard the master emerald now" Knuckles explains plainly.

"The Master Emerald? Your not in something bad right! I swear if they got you trafficking drugs I'm going to kick so many asses" boom Sonic exclaims.

Knuckles taps him on the shoulder "no nothing like that. Guarding The Master Emerald is an enlightening experience that echidnas have done for generations. They use the wisdom of the Master Emerald to better both them selves and everything around them. It's an honour to get an opportunity like this"

"Well can't we take it with us, I'm sure it will fit in my apartment" Boom Sonic pleads.

"The magic of the Master Emerald keeps Angel Island in the sky, without it hundreds if not thousands of animals would die." Boom Knuckles explains.

Amy carefully walks over, avoiding miscellaneous liquids, pushing obstacles to the side with her pico hammer.

"Hey guys when we going?" Amy asks.

"Knuckles claims that this is his home now" boom sonic states 

Boom amy rolls her eyes "well amy claims that knuckles can't make such decisions with cum on his face "

Boom knuckles smirks, grabbing a cloth and cleaning himself, "look now I can make the claims "

Boom amy sighs "sonic, how many hits of my hammer do you think itll take to knock some sense into him"

Sally shouts from the other side of the room, where she is laying covered in cold cum "no violence in the hangout room "

Boom amy rolls her eyes "well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me princess "

Sally chuckles, pushing herself to sit up "actually i am, and as im princess you'll honour my commands "

Boom amy tuts "its hard to take your commands seriously when you're covered in an obscene amount of...fluids "boom amy shouts. Sally rolls her eyes, heading out to wash herself. 

Knuckles looks at boom knuckles "my fellow knuckles is an adult, and it is his decision to make, whatever he decides to do i hope you respect it"

Boom sonic sighs "i wish I didn't help you into that chair"

Boom knuckles sighs "my duty as apprentice to the current guardian of the master emerald means i shall remain here... but i guess I should go back and say goodbye to everyone first"

Knuckles nods "first i should tell everyone something.... when they wakeup .. boom sonic would you like a chilli dog"

Silver groans from the floor, "guess you're gonna want me to magic away everyone's hangovers right?"

Knuckles chuckles "yes, please do "

Silver clutches his head, sitting up, activating his magic "alright, wake up time everyone... hope whatever you have to say is real important knuckles "

Silver's magic washes over the room, After a few minutes everyone has woken up and crowded round.  
Sonic smiles at knuckles "so whats the announcement?"

Knuckles smiles "there are many... im stepping down from being the guardian of the master emerald, my stronger and more youthful counterpart will be my successor. "

Everyone gasps slightly.  
Tails looks shocked "youre?... but what will you do?"

Knuckles chuckles slightly "ill take on the role of mentor to the guardian , continue on the aincient echidna tribes traditions "

Sonic nods"diddnt you say many announcements?"

Knuckles nods back "yes... im also stepping down from being the god of chaosfolk.. and nominating my counterpart in my place"

Boom knuckles rubs his head nervously "master, ... im ah...honoured...but im no leader"

Sonic sighs "isnt the standard practice for this thing that the people vote... and for chaosfolk it has to be someone with a direct connection to chaos energy and preferably the master emerald... boom knuckles was not attuned to chaos energy even a month ago, he doesn't know it properly "

Knuckles sighs "there is nobody else... who would you choose"

Sonic sighs.

Scourge nods "the people do need someone... "

Sonic nods "i nominate scourge... hes already got leadership experience... and is definitely more in tune with the master emerald than boom knuckles... sorry big guy"

Boom knuckles nods "its okay... im not sure i want to be worshipped "

"Scourges path has been a rocky one. Boom knuckles's path has remained straight and narrow. It is the peoples vote but i don't think Scourge has it in him to lead the chaos folk and keep my people true to the master emerald" stated Knuckles folding his arm.

It matters not too Sonic, Knuckles opinion because its not his decision, if he leaves the position it's traditionally to the people to decide.

"Scourge, would you lead the chaos folk?" Sonic asks.

"Umm, I would love to lead some people again, kinda make my own path in this world y'know." stated Scourge.

"Then it's an electoral campaign!" Stated Sonic smirking.

Knuckles sighs "boom knuckles... we might have to cancel your visit back to the boom dimension "

"Oh no..." boom Knuckles states as he realizes he is being put in a situation he has no say on.

Sally nods "ill put out an an announcement... see if theres any other powerful chaosfolk wanting to run for the position...the first debate would be in two weeks... plenty of time to get people on your side. You'll be provided some advertising space each .... think thats all"

Scourge nods , thinking about how his going to answer any questions people ask.

Sonic smiles "we'll help you with any campaigning you need "

Scourge nods and looks back at knuckles " s'at all?"

Knuckles nods leading boom knuckles, boom sonic and boom amy up to angel island to show them the master emerald. 

Scourge looks at everyone in the room "as much as I hate to admit it, i need a team , who's with me?"

Scourge watches, mostly in shock as more than a couple hands go up.

Sonic, tails, Ginger, cub,zonic , silver and Sally put their hands up

Mephilis looks at sonic "you're supporting him? You saw what his dimension under his leadership looked like"

Sonic nods "his dimension seemed like that even without his leadership, he did a good job keeping everything functioning. With a good team to back him up he'll be a better leader than boom knuckles. And scourge at least permanently lives here"

Mephilis sighs "you do you i guess, but the rest of you should see what his dimension under his leadership looked like "

Mephilis shows a projection of scourges dimension. 

Silver looks on in shock at the rundown city. "Is.... no.. sorry scourge i can't support someone who willingly let their citizens get like this"

Scourge nods, respecting silvers choice , perhaps at one time he would force silver to help. But thats not how this works, he needs people to support him willingly 

Everyone else nods 

Sally steps forward "i do have one request from him if he wants my help "

Scourge smirks "state your price princess "

Sally smirks back at him "i need you to help me with all the cities paperwork, and in return ill help with your paperwork"

Scourges eyes widen slightly "uhh.. sure ... you'll have to tell me what you need"

Zonic nods at Sally and scourge"i was always forced to do paperwork back in the no-zone , ill help you out too."

Cub giggles slightly "we need a team name " hovering next to zonic he puts a a3 flipchart in front of them 

Ginger thinks flying over "team scourge " he grins excitedly 

Sally shakes her head "no... too forward "

Sonic thinks, slowly spreading his wings in thought "green party?"

Zonic shakes his head "too subtle "

Tails nods "beryl party"

Scourge nods "sounds good, subtle but still informative... i know knuckles is probably calling his team the emerald party so its more fitting. "

Zonic nods "ok... i do have one rule for you scourge...and for the rest of you too"

Cub tilts his head to the side curiously

"No dimensional travel. Not with Scourge, he has to stay right here."

Tails nods" weird rule but I wasn't planning any dimensional travel, nothing Scourge has to deal with right now atleast"

"R-reallzies Zone" Blue says nervously "ugh".

"Scourge looks at Zonic with respect "allright, so this is your way of saying ya gonna stop watching me 24/7 as long as i stay here?"

Zonic nods "you have definitely gained enough of my trust for me to take my eyes off you, but not enough for me to trust you in another zone"

Scourge nods, crossing his arms "ill only break your rule if absolutely necessary "

Zonic sighs "guess thats as good as im getting, lets plan your goals for godhood"

Scourge perches on a chair , "well im not a guardian of the master emerald so i can relate to the average mobian better "

Sonic chuckles "lets write shit down, cmon"

Meanwhile shadow is in his room, he sees something sparkle from across the room, slowly walking over, uncovering it and picking it up. Shadow gasps as the last of his lost memories returns to him, he was planning to propose to mephilis.

Shadows ear twitches in the direction of mephilis distinctive footsteps approaching the room making shadow panic slightly, quickly hiding the ringbox in his head quills.


	2. The debate

The sun rises over the horizon, a clock in the room chimes in 7:00 as scourge slowly sighs, drinking the last mouthful of beer from the bottle in his hand. "Todays the day i guess..time to persuade a cities worth of people that im not gonna throw them under the bus"

Scourge sighs, slowly getting off his bed ,looking at himself in the mirror. 

Ever since he woke up mutated from chaos energy and radiation hes not felt tired... or looked exhausted even with his lack of sleep.   
And when he does dream he feels himself drawn to the stars.

Scourge quickly washes his face, slowly preparing himself to make sure he looks presentable for the one and only debate of this election.

Scourge looks over at the door as someone carefully knocks on it.

Scourge softly dries his face trying to give his reflection a friendly smile in preparation for the debate, before frowning as it comes out more as a toothy grin, emphasising his sharp teeth. 

Scourge sighs, walking over to his door and opening it, raising an eyebrow slightly as silver stands on the other side 

Silver chuckles slightly "so you're wondering why im here... ive been thinking... you're the best candidate for the position and i should have supported you from the start"

Scourge smirks "what changed your mind?"

Silver looks down at the floor "boom knuckles means well... but he's not intelligent enough to deal with the people's problems, knux is using him as a puppet to keep control over his people..."

Scourge nods "and what about the magmobian running as the wildcard?"

Silver shakes his head slightly "she's affiliated with the remnants of the cult that worshipped Solaris... she's given subtle hints that she's gonna try and force the cult on people... she tried it on me"

Scourge nods again, "so you decided to come visit me just before the debate to apologise for not having faith in me?"

Silver sighs "and i thought you'd appreciate my help in appearing a bit...lighter ... to the people "

Scourge sighs, huffing slightly "i could do with a bit of help..."

Silver grins" And I know exactly what to do "

Scourges eyes widen slightly "oh no"

Silver nudges scourge to sit on the end of his bed, summoning a set of vials and various powders.   
Silver hums to himself as he meticulously rubs one vials contents on scourges face, scourge sniffs slightly, smelling the lavender scented moisturiser with disgust.

Silver giggles slightly at scourges expression   
"We definitely need to work on the resting bitch face"

Scourge growls slightly "thats resting king face to you " understanding the jest and emphasising it by silently chuckling afterwards. 

Silver grins and opens one of the powders, its a green thats slightly lighter than scourges quill colour , getting a fine brush and slightly applying the powder. Making scourges eyes appear kinder and warmer looking. 

Scourge sits still, allowing silver to apply a second powder that seems slightly sparkly in the mornings light, a slightly darker green just before his ears , making his face seem more innocent looking. 

Scourge closes his eyes, letting silver apply the powder to scourges eyelids and then feeling silver apply a second vial of cold liquid to his face to set the powder.

Silver steps back, watching as scourge opens his eyes again and walks to the mirror. Noticing how the discreet makeup emphasizes the facial features that made him sonic while also softening the features that make him scourge. 

Scourges mouth moves into a grin , looking softer from silver's handiwork but still not friendly looking. 

Silver walks over "try smiling more with your eyes, let them close just a little bit "

Scourge does as silver says, but still he is drawn away by the glint of his sharp teeth in the sunlight. 

Silver hums in thought "keep your lips closed, keep trying to smile with your eyes. I know it'll feel uncomfortable but its only for the debate "

Scourge nods, following silver's instructions , his smile widening slightly as his reflection seems to smile in a kind and friendly way   
"Thanks... guess im all set then"

Silver chuckles "not quite, i believe zonic had something for you, after that head down to the hangout room and we'll go to the debate location and get set up"

Scourge nods, swiftly walking over to zonics room and knocking on the door.   
Zonic shouts "come in"

Scourge slowly pushes the door open, stepping into the room, gasping slightly as for once the lights are on.

Zonic smiles "ah scourge i have a gift for you. It's finally finished just in time for today's debate. Close your eyes ill put it on you"

Scourge closes his eyes, hearing zonic walk over and feeling zonics warm fingers on his arms as zonic slides a jacket on each of scourges arms. Scourge tucks his wings closer to him instinctively, bracing for them to be crushed against his back but the confining material never happens. 

Scourge feels zonic carefully lift his wings out of the way, pressing together stud fasteners underneath with a satisfying pop

Zonic slowly steps back "you can open your eyes now "

Scourge opens his eyes, looking at the leather jacket covering his arms ,then up at zonic who is holding a large mirror up 

Scourge finds himself grinning happily, looking at the sewn on flames on the sleeves "I..... I ..don't know what to say. . . Thank you "

Zonic grins back "you deserved it... you've come so far since you've been here... its time i did something for you "

Scourge steps closer to zonic , pulling him into a hug "don't tell anyone that i hugged you, i don't want people thinking ive gone soft"

Zonic chuckles, hugging scourge back tucking his head slightly into scourges shoulder "my lips are sealed "

Scourge glances at one of the active screens, one thats watching what blue is doing, he seems to be trying to hack one of the inactive dimensional portals. After a few seconds of typing the portal activates , linking with his wrist computer and blue steps through. 

Scourge raises an eyebrow "where is blue going?"

Zonic sighs "im unsure, i can't get a clear feed of blue from that dimension, it seems to have a lot of electro magnetic interference. Its likely another dimension like his home dimension judging by the spectra of signals from it. "

Scourge nods "couldn't you just find that dimensions sonics feed and find the type of dimension from there"

Zonic gasps slightly "scourge your a fucking genius, why didn't i think of that" zonic quickly turns to the computer , typing at a speed that surpasses Scourges comprehension.

Zonic hums in confusion "... this sonic... he's dead.. but still moving"

Scourge tuts slightly "just get the feed up"

Zonic nods, activating the large screen in the room and putting the feed from this dimensions sonic on it.

Both sonic and scourge gasp as they look at the screen, the sonic appears to have been killed horifically and his body used as some organic shell for a machine. 

Judging by the lack of muscular structure and the level of robotics its likely that this Sonics been dead for a while, likely completely decomposed inside. 

Zonic feels bile rising in his throat, glancing over at scourge who looks even greener than usual. 

Scourge breaks the uncomfortable silence that has descended across the room "well thats morbid..."

Zonic nods slightly "hope blues not taking any risks in this dangerous dimension "

Scourge sighs "hopefully. . . I have to go win a debate now I guess"

Zonic smiles "i know you'll win, you're the best candidate we have "

Scourge chuckles "the difficulty is getting everyone else to believe that "

Zonic nods, accompanying scourge as he walks down to the hangout room. 

Zonic looks at the discreet makeup on scourges face, noting that it seems to soften his features 

Scourge gets cheers from his friends as he walks into the room. 

Sonic chuckles from his seat "what took you? We were worried you'd chickened out "

Scourge chuckles "me , step back from a challenge? Your words wound me. I was getting zonics gift to me from him"

Sonic looks at the jacket scourge is wearing "looking good for your debate, we're all ready to head out if you are "

Scourge nods "whats my chances of winning?"

Sally looks up from her communicator "your only competition really is the magmobian, knuckles has less than 5% predicted support, the magmobian has about 47% support and you have 48% support. Its close "

Scourge hums slightly "so how much to win? " 

Sally chuckles slightly "majority vote, so over 50% voting for you "

Scourge sighs "can't be too hard, what sorta questions do you think the people will ask?"

Sally shrugs slightly "hard to tell, definitely a bit on skills, capacity to lead, definitely people asking about whether you'll be democratic or a tyrant "

Scourge huffs slightly "the past is the past, its the here and now that matters"

Chuck chuckles from the doorway "that it does sonny, and might i say you've got a real good shot at winning this thing. You lot should get out to the plaza soon and prepare, ill be cheering you on from the crowd "

Scourge quickly walks over to chuck, giving him a quick hug.smiling as chuck gives him a quick hug back. 

Scourge steps back "ill be looking for ya in the crowd "

Chuck smiles "oho i best get down there now to get a front row seat then"

Chuck turns and swiftly walks to the elevator and heads downstairs. 

Scourge sighs "lets get this show on the road"

Tails quickly flies over to scourge and sonic "hey before we go... ive finally finished analysing the test results from what happened during the blaze incident "

Sonic raises an eyebrow "oh?"

Tails looks at his miles electric and reads out the results to the two hedgehogs " some...interesting things occoured in that pit... your genetic data appears to have been spliced together, along with Fragments of overlander dna from Snively and cat dna from blaze. Ive concluded that the addition of your wings is from excess chaos energy from scourge reacting with your combined dna causing unprecedented mutation to your bodies "

Sonic sighs "dumb it down a bit "

Tails nods "you and scourge are both physically identical, other than the colour of your quills... you seem to have inherited his additional power and strength, and he seems to have inherited your body's physical maturity and resistance to this dimensions hazards"

Scourge nods "i was wondering why the constant dry heat suddenly stopped irritating me"

As they get closer to the plaza they here the roaring of the crowd rushing to there seats and screaming for snacks.

A voice booms on the mic, sonic immediately recognizes it as kitti ...proprietor of the cities most famous strip club and casino...  
Sonic glances at the short black cat, who usually is in lingerie, wearing a smart suit with a dainty bow on one ear. Kitti purrs into the mic "ten minutes until the debate starts, i hope fur everyone to be respectfurl fur each of our candidates "

Scourge looks at the crowd nervously , trying to find chuck in the crowd like he promised, grinning as he sees chuck waving from near the stage.

Scourge nods respectfully at boom knuckles and the strangly beautiful moth magmobian who are running against him.

Scourge and the others step out to their podiums.

Scourge looks at the magmobian candidate, finding it strange that he had never seen her before. She is a lean moth in appearance, with a few tints of green with dazzling emerald shards decorating her beautiful wings.

Members of press lines the edge of the stage with microphones pointed forward, each yelling incoherent questions as Kitti points at 1 and silences the rest of them.

"Miss Chrysoprase , we know of the other candidates connections to the master emerald, what is your connection to the chaos energies "

The moth leans forward slightly, "ah you know of how we magmobians were created. our mobian bodies were fused with rocks to create the forms you see before you, some of us were fused with geodes, and even fewer of us were fused with the chaos emeralds. I was fused with the green chaos emerald of our home dimension " her dulcet tones flow through the air, almost enchanting the crowd.

Sally, sat offstage whispers to iblis "is that true "

Iblis nods "yes some magmobians were made of chaos emeralds... i don't remember a green one but i might have made her before I became fully sentient "

Sally looks back at the stage as a second question gets asked to the candidates. 

" mr scourge, we know you are well experienced with leadership, but how can we the people be sure that you won't become a tyrannical dictator? "

Scourge scratches his head "well I guess you don't, but I've got to ask for you to have faith. Faith in me, faith in Sonic and the other gods that believe in me"

A microphone pushes in front of the crowd "mr scourge what is your ties to chaos and the Master Emerald?"

"Ah , you see i used to be just an ordinary sonic, but on my birthday about three years ago I had persuaded the guardian of alpha-prime's master emerald , guardian Locke , to let me use the power of the master emerald. Transforming me into the chaos infused hedgehog you see before you "

Knuckles looks at scourge from offstage , quietly whispering to himself "that...was my father's name...if he knew my father ... humph no matter. I must be prepared for when they ask boom a question "

A member of press points a microphone at boom knuckles " we understand you're a version of our current leader but from a different dimension, how would you describe your style of leadership "

Boom knuckles thinks back on the many lessons of what he should say in this situation. " my leadership would be strong, dynamic and beneficial to the city. My leadership would be trustworthy as i am a version of your current god"

Offstage boom sonic looks at knuckles and sighs "how long did you spend getting him to memorize this?"

Knuckles chuckles slightly, "not as long as you would think, communing with the master emerald has drastically improved his memory and even his physical strength "

Boom sonic snorts slightly " knux is stronger? Asif he needed extra strength "

"Miss Chrysoprase! What policies do you represent?" Asked a genuinely curious member of the audience as opposed to the press.

"Well my people are semi-new to this city, we experienced mostly a warm welcome yet we still struggle and feel disadvantaged, we have a reputation to build. I want to help build up all mobians to a future of equality!"

Another mobian from the crowd shouts "miss Chrysoprase, what is your stance on the more deviant parts of our fair city"

The magmobian flutters her wings slightly , entrancing the crowd with the shimmering crystals "as an upstanding woman, i would want for such things to be shut down. However i cannot deny the role they play in our economy. I will guide them to a better path, a path in the light"

A reporter pushes a microphone at boom knuckles "what do you think about the slander in the news, that none of our candidates for our god originated in this dimension "

Offstage knuckles mentally swears... he hopes his counterpart actually says something useful as an answer for an unexpected question 

Boom knuckles thinks , mentally calling out to the master emerald for guidance "well ... i may have not been born here, but as guardian, i have made my home with the master emerald "

Boom sonic sighs, looking at knuckles who lets out a deep breath. Boom sonic raises an eyebrow "you teach him that?"

Knuckles shakes his head "no... i think he actually managed to get advice from the master emerald... that or he came up with that himself "

The same reporter pushes the microphone towards scourge "mr scourge, what is your opinion on the slanderous comments in the news"

Scourge smiles slightly, managing to pull off the friendly smile he practiced earlier "i see them only as opinions, if people think ill of us because we weren't born here then let them. The past is in the past, let us now focus on the future"

People cheer from the audience, offstage Sally high-fives sonic 

A reporter pushes forward, pushing a microphone towards boom knuckles "sir what are your opinions on the amount of our citizens with cybernetic enhancements "

Boom knuckles nods , knowing that the master emerald wont be able to help with this type of opinionated question   
"In my home dimension there's not really anyone with robot parts, my home dimension was too safe for people to get hurt enough to need robotics. I see the need for people in this dimension to need them, to replace lost limbs or to enhance existing ones"

The reporter turns to scourge "mr scourge, what are your opinions on the number of us with cybernetics "

Scourge nods "it is not unnatural to want to enhance yourself, i believe everyone should be free to alter the form they were born or created with . And I believe my position on cybernetics applies even more to this dimension. "

Scourge smiles as he hears a portion of the crowd cheer

The reporter then pushes the microphone to the magmobian "miss Chrysoprase what are your opinions on the amount of cybernetics our citizens have"

She clears her throat "I simply contrast with my opponents, the magmobians have always seeked power within and believe that the power of ourselves and the master emerald is what is needed. Surely you agree that losing a part of you , can only disable you mentally and should never be done so by- ugh choice"

Offstage Sally looks shocked as she hears cheers from the crowd "i didn't think so many of our people hated cybernetics "

Sonic shakes his head, "they dont... this seems suspicious "

Back onstage kitti speaks into her microphone "one more question fur each of the candidates "

A reporter pushes forward only to be swarmed by other reporters. Eventually one pushes forward "miss Chrysoprase what is your stance on the food supply of the city, would you prefer to continue hunting outside the walls or farm plants instead?"

The magmobian sighs slightly "my kind, magmobians... we eat rocks, we have no need to eat your food. If there is no issue with your current food supply, why change it?"

A reporter pushes forward pushing a microphone at boom knuckles "there are rumours you're nothing more than a puppet of our old leader.

"This is completely wrong, your old leader retired from his position and taught me to take guidance from the master emerald. The master emerald and the will of the chaos energy that has saved you people countless times is my only master" knuckles states matter of factly, you could tell this was completely of a script based on the words holding much enthusiasm but Knuckles' voice was empty.

A reporter, the shape of a petit kangaroo wearing a funny looking hat, who had been jumping from the start trying to get a word in finally gets to the stand.

"scourge, umm- do you think your people from your old world will vote for you... I mean I know that was a different you back then but-" said the lottle reporter hopping from anticipation.

Scourge smiles at the young reporter and then thinks "whats your name?"

The kangeroo stops hopping "umm, my names Roo-"

"Well Roo, to be honest I don't have a prediction. I was a bad guy back then and I don't know if many of them could forgive." Scourge thinks a little more "I hope they will, afterall this is the world of second chances. Im no longer a king, im just like you all, a citizen of our great city. A citizen who will listen, who will protect, and guide the city. A citizen who would sacrifice their life for the people's safety " scourge smiles, the kind smile he perfected earlier, hoping it will amplify his words.

Sally notes how it felt so secure and honest at the beginning and then goes far more on script at the end.

Kitti brings the event to a close , watching as the crowds quickly disappear into the side-streets .

Scourge walks over to sonic and Sally "so how'd I do?"

Sonic smiles "you've got this in the bag , i think you're going to win"


	3. An underground rescue

Scourge slams a data-pad on the table "what do they mean , i lost the popular vote?!"

Sally looks at the screen "it was close but she had a clear lead of 2.6% of our population... im sorry scourge "

Scourge growls, punching the nearby wall "aghhh i can't believe I lost to the cultist... i thought you said they were all wiped out?"

Iblis sighs "only all that were heretics in Solaris' eyes..."

Scourge huffs , punching the wall again half heartedly "fine... 's fine... not like i wanted to have some form of input into the running of the city?"

Zonic cautiously puts a hand on scourges shoulder "hey you still do, we all have input"

Scourge sighs slightly before growling and swiftly walking upstairs to his room. 

Zonic sighs, shaking his head slightly. 

Cub looks at the screen on the data-pad "should I go speak to him?"

Zonic takes a deep breath "kid... its probably not a good idea... let him calm down for a while "

Cub sighs "i guess..."

...

Scourge slams his door, looking at his reflection in the mirror, growling .  
Scourge cries out in frustration, slamming his fist against the mirror, shattering it.  
He tears off his gloves, throwing them off the balcony, and turns to his sink... now full of shards of mirror, glinting in the harsh sunlight. 

Scourge sighs, emptying the sink of glass is tomorrow scourges problem. 

Scourge throws himself onto his bed, sighing loudly through gritted teeth.

A quiet knock on his door grabs his attention. 

Scourge takes a deep breath, taking a quick swig from one of the open unfinished bottles in his room. He slowly opens his door. "What do you want blue...it better be important "

Blue shifts nervously "ah... so it would involve disobeying zonics rule-"

Scourge huffs "nope" goes to close his door, but blue puts a foot in the way. 

Blue continues "please... i don't know who to turn to... i need to rescue my siblings..."

Scourge sighs slightly "go on... im listening "

Blue nods "well technically they're not my actual family... but i don't have a version of them left alive... and they don't have any version of me left alive... and I need someone strong to help he... im also gonna get tails to help with any hacking "

Scourge sighs "your necks on the line if zonic finds out..."

Blue nods "anything..."

Scourge huffs "lets get it over with, before zonic realizes anything is up"

Blue nods, leading scourge to tails room to persuade him to join.

Scourge knocks quickly on tails door, tails slowly opens it.

Tails raises an eyebrow "what's up?"

Scourge smirks "we need a hacker, are you up for the job?"

Tails smiles in excitement "really, fuck yeah count me in"

Blue chuckles "that was easy... shall we get to the dimension so I can fill you in on my plan?"

Scourge nods, letting tails lead the wsy to his private portal in the basement. Blue quickly grabs one of Antoine's dark hoodies from a pile of dirty clothes by the washing machines, sniffing it "this should mask my scent from the guards, im not gonna take any risks"  
Blue puts on the hoodie and walks over to the portal. 

Blue types in the dimensional code and the three step through. 

Scourge looks around the direct surroundings, desolate streets, lit by dull orange streetlamps . Drains in the floor doing little to stop puddles forming in the smoggy rain . The portal code links to each of the trio's communicator as it closes, preventing people from wandering between dimensions. 

Scourge takes a deep breath, smelling the acrid smell of coal fires and pollution "yeesh whats the hazard rating of this place?"

Blue sighs "hazard 7..."

Scourge chuckles "damn... well, tell the plan"

Blue shuffles slightly "ah.. so we're going to rescue my sister and brother, they're captured by this dimensions Robotnik... he is hazardous and i think he's gonna be a risk to us in future... "

Tails nods "describe who were rescuing?"

Blue nods "well ones a pink hedgehog, the more responsible one of the two. She always wears an amulet from her mother that looks like a steel keyboard.her names sonia.. And the other...is a green hedgehog-"

Scourge chuckles "so thats why you wanted me here right?"

Blue nods and continues "he's wearing a brown leather jacket and always wears a steel amulet shaped like a drum set, he's a sneaky fela his names manic"

Tails raises an eyebrow "are we taking them back home? "

Blue shakes his head "nah, they need to be here to rebuild after we dispose of the Robotnik "

Tails flattens his ears"im not helping you kill a Robotnik "

Blue nods "you can leave after rescuing my family "  
Tails nods. 

Scourge looks around, "whats my part in the plan?"

Blue takes a step forward "we need you to lead the guards away from the cell and then ... dispose of them"

Scourge nods "got it"

Blue nods "lets go then"

Blue leads them through the narrow streets, putting his hood up to cover his blue spines .

Scourge glances up as someone on the upper floor of a building slams a window closed. 

Tails slows his pace slightly, his superior hearing picking up footsteps in the dark alleyways branching off from the street they're on, before seeing the unmistakable glint of a mobians eyes in the shadows and hurriedly catching up to the others. 

Blue speaks in a hushed tone "we've got one place to stop in before we get started, ive managed to get someone to scout the location and find the best way in"

Blue leads scourge and tails down a dark side-street lit by the occasional streak of light from a curtained window.  
Scourge keeps his head down, knowing this sort of place , grabbing tails hand as tails looks around the dark alley, whispering to tails "head down, don't make eye contact "

Tails does so, only looking at scourge as blue leads them into a dark archway, down a small staircase into the sewers beneath the city.

Tails tries to not breathe through his nose as the smell washes over him, blue leads them to a small cistern and over to a hooded pangolin .  
Blue hands over a wad of cash , the pangolin flicks through the large wad of money before pocketing it and holding one up to the light . The pangolin nods and hands blue a rolled up parchment, nodding at them and then walking away. 

Blue puts the roll of parchment inside his hoodie, motioning for scourge and tails to follow, they walk back up to the street and towards the large egg shaped building in the distance 

Blue opens the parchment, leading them down back streets to a large outflow pipe leading to a sewer entrance. 

Blue sighs "guess this is our way in, and that's definitely not just sewage coming out of there..."

Scourge grumbles "my shoes are gonna be ruined ..."

Blue pulls open the grate covering the pipe, the flow of waste increases as the material trapped on the grate is removed from the liquids path.

A hollow sound resonates from the blockage as it hits the sewer entrance, tails glances at the pale white objects. "Is that..."

Scourge grimaces slightly "mobian bones... old ones by the look of it"

Blue sighs as he waits for the flow to decrease back to traversable conditions 

Blue sighs slowly climbing into the pipe "lets go"

Tails follows afterwards and scourge follows at the back.

Blue follows the map , stopping before a drain dripping red into the waste-liquid .

Blue cautiously pushes the drain cover off and peeks out , the room is empty other than a possum sst crying, chained to a wall.

Blue climbs out , cautiously creeping up to the mobian "hey, ill get you outta here"

The mobian mumbles, incoherent, driven crazy from the torture and solitude. 

Blue undoes one of the bindings only for the possum to swipe at his face. Blue jumps back to avoid the hit to see the crazed expression on the mobians face.

Tails lowers his head, he's seen this before "leave her... theres nothing left of what she was"

Blue nods, reluctantly leaving the possum to her fate .

They leave the room, stepping down towards a small vent on the floor of the corridor . Blue tries to pry open the vent, but can't, standing back to double check the map.

Scourge rolls his eyes, using his void-grip to grasp the cover and pull himself to it while holding onto the door handle, hence pulling the cover to himself instead. 

Blue raises an eyebrow "you never cease to amaze me "

Scourge shrugs "lets go into the vents i guess"

Blue climbs into the vent, "fuck its claustrophobic in here" 

Blue crawls forward, counting openings as he moves towards the cells. 

Blue peeks out of the vent, seeing two canid guards.. he shuffles forward "scourge, your turn" 

Scourge kicks out the vent cover, drawing the guards attentions, and drops down to the floor below. 

One of the guards looks at scourge "heeey he got out"

The other guard waves a hand dismissively "they can't get out, stop distracting me you oaf"

Scourge quickly runs in front of the guards .

The guards look shocked.

Scourge smirks "oi , mutts , im escaping "

Scourge jogs away at a slow speed, drawing the two guards away from the cell.

The lanky looking guard pushes the buffer looking guard "stop dawdling , after him. The green one doesn't have any super speed"

The buffer one hesitates "sleet, doesn't he have that drum thing?"

Sleet growls "you bafoon , the amulets are in the safe outside the cage, go get him"

Blue watches as the guards run after scourge listening for any others before dropping down into the corridor. 

He runs up to the cage , lowering his hood. The purple hedgehog runs up to the bars "blue? You actually came for us? Even though we're not actual family?"

Blue smiles "course I did sonia" blue glances at tails who has dropped out the vent "tails can you hack the electronic lock on the cage"

Tails nods and quickly gets to work, plugging his miles electric into the large lock and getting to work. 

Blue hears loud thuds coming from around the corner, and a gruff voice shouting . "Tails hurry it up, scourge sounds like he's being attacked "

Tails nods, continuing to bypass the lock.

The thuds continue, with occasional wet cracking sounds. 

Tails huffs , the lock buzzing and then clicking before falling to the floor. 

Blue facepalms , underneath the electronic lock ... was a normal lock...

Manic's ear twitches, listening to the cracking sounds become wet squelching sounds ... then silence "I'm a bit worried for your pal"

Scourge chuckles from the end of the corridor "i can handle myself " scourge drags a small pipe after himself, his fur, feathers and jacket are splattered with blood. 

Sonia takes a quick few steps back, standing against the far wall "you... you killed them?"

Scourge shrugs "they wouldn't take a nap" scourge looks at the remaining lock on the cage "yeesh do neither of you guys know how to pick locks?"

Manic laughs "if i was out there, instead of in here , It'd be open by now "

Sonia looks at manic "how are you okay with him murdering those guys"

Manic shakes his head "I'm totally not, the resistance doesn't stand for it... but also were also being rescued, can't complain about how"

Scourge rolls his eyes throwing the pipe behind him before plucking out one of his quills, slowly picking the lock open. 

Blue rolls his eyes "can you go any faster?"

Scourge tuts and opens the lock.

Tails nods, unlocking every door in the building "im out then, my computers saying theres a large amount of dimensional flux... so my portal is gonna be open for a while, manic and Sonia can you two guard it until it closes"

Sonia nods "sure, but not here. Lets get back to our apartment first."

Sonia and manic grab their amulets from the unlocked safe and lead tails out.

Blue looks at scourge "lets end a Robotnik "

Scourge picks up the pipe, wiping the viscera off on the bars of the cell.

Blue nods, grabbing a small knife from a table with many deep punctures in it. 

Blue and scourge head upstairs, its eerily quiet, nobody seems to be around 

They reach the floor where this dimensions Robotnik is , scourge raises an eyebrow , whispering to blue "knew i remembered this dimension... ive been here before... back when I was still sonic..."

Blue looks interested" you gotta tell me that story later"

Scourge nods "nothing much interesting happened, i mistook this Robotnik for mecha-robotnik . gave him the giant borg parts ... and im only just figuring out that that might be something Solaris planned to happen... it got me on the zone cops radar in any case"

Blue chuckles "well, lets get this over with "

Blue and scourge sneak into the large room, sticking to the shadows as they approach a sleeping Robotnik in his chair. 

They pause as the Robotnik grumbles something in his sleep. They both breathe a silent sigh of relief and continue to sneak towards the chair.

Blue crouches beside the chair, nodding to scourge. 

Scourge swings the pipe at Robotniks knees, waking him and knocking him to the floor.

Blue pounces on Robotnik, plunging the knife into Robotniks lower back, and pulling it back out as scourge aims another pipe swing at Robotniks side.

The Robotnik growls "cowards! You'd injure an unarmed man?"

Blue growls "i doubt that ro-butt-nik "

Robotnik hums "that voice, i thought I killed you sonic... unless "

Blue pushes the knife into Robotniks side, just below his ribcage "im from a different dimension "

Robotnik coughs, deep crimson blood spluttering out of his mouth "i knew it..."  
Another coughing fit, and Robotniks moustache is stained with his blood, now pooling beneath him. 

Scourge nods at blue, bringing the pipe down on robotniks skull, silencing him... the only movement is residual impulses in his limbs.

Blue kicks the Robotnik in the head one final time "well. Dimension liberated... and zonic doesn't need to know "

Scourge nods "flux is still around so we're going to be stuck on the interdimensional highway until we sync with home"

Blue sighs, "and then you can wash the blood off you "

Scourge rolls his eyes 

\----------

Meanwhile. 

??? "I wasn't so sure about this... but back home isn't gonna work out... " he slowly picks the lock to a penthouse apartment with a quill.

The door silently opens and he steps in , looking at the faux rock walls and volcano lamps. He throws the quill to the floor for retrieval later as he stealthily heads toward a shiny jewelry box on a desk 

He looks at the sleeping inhabitant of the penthouse, and then at the dazzling green headdress in the box, smiling as he goes to grab it. 

A loud gunshot resonates through the air, glass flies into the room as a bullet buries itself in the chest cavity of the sleeping inhabitant. He looks panicking at the gunshot, quickly fleeing the scene and escaping back into the city. 

.  
Little did he know that he was seen.


	4. Imprisoned

Scourge and blue arrive at the oasis just outside of the city, formed from the lake of rings, they check how long they were gone .

Scourge chuckles "only a day, mephilis dimensional quarantine methods must be working then, maybe then they can restore corrupt dimensions "

Blue chuckles "lets clean up before we head back, maybe catch a snack on the way back as an alibi "

Scourge nods, taking his jacket and shoes off before stepping into the pool of water, quickly tinting the water around him a pale brown of old blood.

The brown quickly disappears from the pool as its magic sets in.

Blue throws his gloves into the lake, stepping in after scourge 

Scourge leans back, floating in the lake, spreading his wings . Blue chuckles from the shallows "no need to show off"

Scourge raises an eyebrow "hmm?"

Blue rolls his eyes "swimming "

Scourge smirks "this isn't swimming, its floating "

Blue shrugs "same difference "

Scourge moves over to blue "its easy, just try it "

Blue looks at scourge suspiciously , letting scourge put a hand on blues lower back, and on the back of his head. 

Scourge smiles "lean back, ill hold you "

Blue leans back , trusting scourge, who lowers slightly to allow blue to be half floating and half supported by scourge. 

Blue initially tenses, too many memories of being fully submerged... but then relaxes into the warm water.

Scourge slowly lowers the hand supporting blues body , only supporting his head, letting the rest of blue float.

Blue slowly closes his eyes "this...is... relaxing?"

Scourge smirks "cmon lets get something to drag home to sell our story"

Blue nods picking up his gloves, as scourge gets dressed again.  
They run out to the dunes , scouting for a sizable prey to hunt down. 

Scourge points out a small injured mutated creature, watching it limp after its flock.

Its feathers fallen off as it drags its left leg behind it.

Blue rolls his eyes "its sick, lets get the alpha"

Blue points at the large 4 legged alpha, its large mating plumage glossy and bright.

Scourge nods "normally a whole experienced hunting team is needed to take one of them down "

Blue looks at him, grinning "you in?"

Scourge grins back "of course I am"

Blue puts a fist up to bump, and scourge does the same, they both make a woosh sound as they move their hands away

Blue looks at the knife tucked in his shoe, "you got a weapon?"

Scourge shakes his head "nah"

Scourge feels the void wash over him, a solemn looking chameleon looks at him, whispering to him through the veil "it is time... i have watched for a while, and now you are worthy of my blade" 

The chameleon unsheaths a twin bladed sword and with its other hand, placing his soul into the sword. 

The chameleon hands the blade through the veil, as soon as scourge touches it it fades away. "Where did it go?"

The chameleon laughs "call on it" they fade away. 

Scourge reaches for the sword with his mind the twin blade appearing from the void , fragmented and sharp. "Okay? I guess i have a weapon"

Blue looks at the blade "neato, lets do this"

Blue and scourge run towards the alpha quickly spinning up a shroud of sand to blind the alpha , blue jumps up on its head, plunging his knife into the creatures singular eye, it shrieks swinging its head wildly throwing blue to the floor. 

Scourge runs at it, avoiding being trampled by the stampedeing flock and plunges the void-blade into the alphas throat.

Blue walks over as the creature falls to the floor "wow... were good"

Scourge chuckles "we're just good at killing "

Blue nods slightly his brain flashing through the trauma of being mecha-sonic "yeah... yeah we are" his voice sounding solemn scourge puts a arm around blue, pulling him into a hug 

Scourge softly comforts blue "hey... i..i didn't mean t-"  
Blue shushes him "its fine.. im over it, im over killing my friends "

Scourge nods "hey. Someone once told me that all it takes is one good day to become a hero... well they weren't his exact words but that is what he meant by it"

Blue nods "...yeah...im still a hero... even after that "

Scourge nods "even after everything i did, im still a sonic..... im still a hero"

Blue nods "well... lets get this thing back home, mephilis can put its head on his wall or something. "

Scourge and blue each grab a leg and drag the creature back. 

They lift it into the lift and take it up to the hangout room. 

Blue leads scourge into the room, they push the dead creature into the room 

Scourge is only met with glares .

Scourge looks around confused "what's wrong?"

Zonic growls "i knew you were upset at not winning the election... but killing her?"

Scourge looks even more confused "what do you mean?"

"Tell me now. Why? Honestly bro..." zonic looks away furiously.

Scourge shakes his head "ive been away the last two days hunting with blue, what happened "

Zonic pulls out a sealed evidence vial "if you didn't do it, explain this!" Zonic shows a green quill in the vial.

Scourge looks at the quill "i wasn't here ... you have to believe me"

Zonic sighs "we all thought we'd made progress with you convict... we trusted you"

Scourge looks around "theres gotta be another green mobian in the city, i didn't do it"

Sally sighs "we checked everything... you're the only green hedgehog in the city"

Scourge feels himself panicking "but echidnas and others have quills too"

Zonic sighs "a witness saw a green hedgehog run away from the scene last night, even if you were out with blue hunting you could have done it "

Scourge look at blue hoping for help, blue looks away , not wanting to risk his neck.  
Scourge looks at tails hoping that theres any chance he could be cleared only for tails to shake his head and look away. 

Scourge sighs "for once just believe me... I didn't kill her"

Zonic exhales "we all wish we could believe you... but...theres no denying the evidence. " zonic puts a pair of long chained cuffs on scourge, before securing the slightly damaged control collar around scourges neck.

Scourge thinks about fighting, but just sighs , he's been framed for her death and theres nothing he can do. 

Zonic pushes scourge to move "convict, lets get you in your cell, nothing comfy like zone-jail but you have no choice"

Scourge lets himself be led into zonics room, to a large cage in the back of his room. Scourge gets pushed into the cage and it is locked behind him. 

Scourge curls up in the corner of the cage, cold steel pressing against his side  
Zonic sighs "convict... we trusted you..i trusted you, i forgave you for everything... but I guess people never do change... ill be back to feed you tonight "  
Zonic leaves his room , leaving scourge alone in the quiet sounds of the monitors. 

Scourge finds himself crying, curled up in the dark... even blue and tails wouldn't clear his name...

\--‐-----

Zonic walks back into the hangout room, looking at blue "was he with you this whole time?"

Blue nods "yeah...tails can confirm he left early when we actually went to get the job done " he knows zonic can tell if he is lying  
Tails speaks up "can confirm that they went out together "

Zonic sighs "we can't rule out that he could have been framed , but we have every bit of evidence we need to prove it was him"

Cub sighs "i believe he's innocent... there must be someone not in the system "

Tails shakes his head "anyone who enters the city gets put in the system... unless.."

Cub tilts his head "yes?"

Tails glances at zonic "its not important, but... i do think he was framed "  
Tails realizes that Sonia and manic must have crossed over before the portal closed..

Sonic looks at the news on tv, showing a report on the magmobians death .  
The reporter is the small kangaroo who scourge was fond of , she sounds sad as she speaks "yesterday evening a loud gunshot was heard across the city, as someone killed our leader Arevai Chrysoprase , as of now a suspect has been taken into custody but his identity will remain anonymous until all evidence is verified. Now to our reporter at the scene "

The camera changes to one of the magmobians house, the bed sheets marred only by one small pool of blood, and her window shattered by a bullets entry.

Sonic gasps "she was shot from outside "

Zonic tilts his head slightly looking at the news report "that means whoever was inside at the time couldn't have done it... we can't release him though... they'll want someone to be executed for this"

Sonic looks at the open jewellery box , seeing the headdress "i have a feeling that this has opened a whole can of worms... didn't she say that those green gems were part of her "

Iblis nods "but if they were jewellery then.. she has no claim to godhood... she was lying to get in charge...someone must have found out and wanted boom knuckles in charge, framing scourge in the process "

Zonic sighs "we can't rule out that the convict had no part in it, we'll have the autopsy results soon to check if there we're any other signs of stuggle"

Tails sighs "sonic... can I speak to you... in private "

Sonic nods, leaving the room with tails. 

Tails sighs "sonic... scourge wasn't here to commit the murder, he couldn't have been at the scene "

Sonic shakes his head "he is the fastest being in the world, he could be by you one second and murdering the next"

Tails looks at the floor "i know that scourge couldn't do this"

Sonic chuckles "i doubt it... hes faster than me, experienced in murder , we all trusted him. The only way he couldn't do it is if he was in a different dimension..."

Tails flattens his ears "well... about that"

Sonic frowns "you didn't... one rule that zonic gave us ... and you broke it immediately?"

Tails nods 

Sonic tuts "you're better than that... look heres all the evidence you need that he can do it " sonic clicks his fingers and runs up to scourges room faster than the sound reaches tails ears.

Sonic looks at the destroyed mirror in scourges sink, then looks over towards scourges desk, theres an open diary on the desk

Sonic looks at the page, reading it 

' zonic complained that I keep drawing dicks in here... but I guess I should use this thing for its purpose. 

I don't know if I deserve to be elected... just gonna put that out there, not like a stupid book cares. Im not the best person for the job, ive made many mistakes... hurt many people ..

I'm in no state to lead a city, look at the mess i made of it last time, admittedly fi kept telling me i was an amazing king but i know better now. I need to better myself before I can better the city, if i win the election ill ask zonic for help... he knows whats right from wrong... if I don't win, then good luck to whoever does.

Something my sonic once said to me keeps coming to mind .

If all it takes is one bad day for him to be like me... then all it takes is a good day for me to become like him ... a hero... i think i want that. 

I should make it up to zonic, for everything ive put him through, ill find something... maybe chocolates, everyone loves chocolate right?

(A quickly scribbled doodle of a dick) '

The rest of the pages are either blank or covered in scribbles. 

Sonic sighs , closing his eyes , when a wave of nausea washes over him.

Sonics hands go shaky as he falls to his knees "wh-what-" Sonic cries.

Sonic closes his eyes as the room is absorbed by the abyss coating the once innocent room in to a dark and warped dimension.

Sonic looks around at the corrupt crypts of Scourges room, shadows on the wall and floor howl and cry as Sonics hearts beats faster.

"There is another?" Stated a curious echoing voice from behind him "unusual, peculiar, perhaps a tipping point in this world"

As Sonic turns to run there is a door infront of him. A grand door that looks like it was sculpted by death himself.

Golden footprints lead out the door.

He can not bring himself to move, but when the will to go on rises in his chest he gives a slight push to this dreaded door.

The door creaks open, the world around him monochrome and slow, abominations lurking in the shadows. Sonic looks at the building in front of him, resembling scourges old castle, and then looking at the building smashed at an angle into it, realising it resembles the palace. 

Sonic looks at the building, the area where the two buildings merge flickering, sometimes castle, sometimes palace, as if this place cant decide. 

Sonic walks up to the front door of scourges castle, the door melting as he approaches it.

The howling of the void disappears as he enters, asif he has crossed into something. 

Sonic looks around the main room, where scourges throne should be is what appears to be a statue of scourge, curled up on the floor, its face sad and tears falling from its eyes. 

Sonic looks up, inverted staircases seem to flow on forever, sonic looks at the floor noticing the golden footprints again. 

Sonic looks at the trail, following the footprints down a long corridor, the walls are cracked and decaying with doors every few steps on either side of the corridor 

Sonic stops by a wooden door, cautiously opening it. Gasping as the door opens onto what sonic presumes is a memory. Sonic looks at the younger scourge, his fur blue , just an ordinary sonic ... 

The scourge looks at his dad, "dad can we play catch?"

The blue hedgehog that sonic presumes is scourges dad just ignores scourge and continues talking to other adult mobians. 

Sonic looks at the young scourge, seeing him lower his head and run off.

Sonic closes the door. 

Sonic looks at the footprints and continues following. 

Sonic peeks in other doors along the way, memories of him becoming scourge, of him dating fiona , of him beating up sonic prime.

Sonic comes to a set of barricaded doors by the unstable area, the doors covered in no entry signs. 

Sonic sighs, his curiosity getting the better of him, opening one of the doors, 

Sonic barely recognizes scourge, wearing a orange prison uniform, his spines cut short and a control collar around his neck.  
His short spines are bent in a way that looks like someone punched them, and judging by the bruising on the little amount of chest he can see , he's been punched often. 

Scourge sits down on the floor glaring up at the zone-cops on the walkways above. A muscular wolf walks up to scourge, grabbing him and throwing him at a basketball hoop on the wall. Cheering as scourge misses the hoop and impacts the wall. Scourge glances up at the wolf who proceeds to slam scourges face into the dirt.

Sonic sighs, closing the door, not wanting to see anymore of that. 

Sonic continues following the footprints, the corridor shifting to resemble the corridors of the palace. 

Sonic opens a door, smiling as he sees scourge scribbling in his diary, with zonic chuckling as he looks over scourges shoulder. 

Sonic looks at the diary.

Zonic sighs "stop drawing dicks"

Scourge tuts "im not, im writing "

Zonic chuckles "about what "

Scourge smirks "dicks..." before sighing "im writing about you "

Zonic smiles, putting a hand on scourges back "aww you have changed scourge "

Zonic leaves the room. Scourge quickly glances at zonic, making sure he's left before flicking to the back page of the diary, where scourge is drawing a beautiful portrait of zonic and working on it.

Sonic smiles, knowing that deep inside scourge really does care for zonic and for everyone. 

Sonic is about to close the door before scourge flicks back to the diary entry he read before and writes about his plans to get zonic chocolates

Sonic smiles at scourge and slowly closes the door. 

Sonic reaches the door where the footprints end, opening it. 

The memory playing out before him must have been from the day of the murder 

Scourge takes a deep breath, taking a quick swig from one of the open unfinished bottles in his room. He slowly opens his door. "What do you want blue...it better be important "

Blue shifts nervously "ah... so it would involve disobeying zonics rule-"

Scourge huffs "nope" goes to close his door, but blue puts a foot in the way. 

Blue continues "please... i don't know who to turn to... i need to rescue my siblings..."

Scourge sighs slightly "go on... im listening "

Blue nods "well technically they're not my actual family... but i don't have a version of them left alive... and they don't have any version of me left alive... and I need someone strong to help he... im also gonna get tails to help with any hacking "

Scourge sighs "your necks on the line if zonic finds out..."

Blue nods "anything..."

Scourge huffs "lets get it over with, before zonic realizes anything is up"

Sonic watches as the memory fades to another 

They are in a dark city that sonic doesn't recognise  
Scourge chuckles "damn... well, tell the plan"

Blue shuffles slightly "ah.. so we're going to rescue my sister and brother, they're captured by this dimensions Robotnik... he is hazardous and i think he's gonna be a risk to us in future... "

Tails nods "describe who were rescuing?"

Blue nods "well ones a pink hedgehog, the more responsible one of the two. She always wears an amulet from her mother that looks like a steel keyboard.her names sonia.. And the other...is a green hedgehog-"

Scourge chuckles "so thats why you wanted me here right?"

Blue nods and continues "he's wearing a brown leather jacket and always wears a steel amulet shaped like a drum set, he's a sneaky fela his names manic"

The memory shifts to the jail cell 

Where scourge leads the two guards away asking them to give up before smashing them round the head with a pipe , sonic realizes that one of the guards resembles the wolf beating up scourge in that previous memory. Scourge walks back to the cell talking with manic. 

Scourge frees the two hedgehogs and they leave with tails, while scourge and blue head to deal with the Robotnik. 

Judging by the time on scourges communicator he couldn't have been here for the murder, which only leaves either him being framed or that other green hedgehog as the culprit...

Sonic feels someone behind him, he turns around and sees a tall mobian cat ,her fur a swirling galaxy, she smiles at him holding out an orb "you are two, peculiar , our master gave me permission to give myself for you . "

Sonic takes the orb , absorbing it into himself feeling the power flow into him "what is this?"

The cat grins her body turning into a cloud of beautiful butterflies "the ability to cross distances unseen "

Sonic blinks and finds himself still stood in scourges room. He feels the new power as a warmth in his hand. Cautiously reaching out with the warmth and letting instincts take control. 

Sonic instantly moves to the location he pointed his hand to, gasping slightly as he rearealizes that he borrowed more off scourge than previously realized 

Then the wave of nausea hits him. 

Sonic quickly wills himself into his bathroom, causing another wave of nausea, bile rising to his mouth. 

Once sonic feels steady he washes his mouth out at the sink then braces himself to tell tails what he saw in scourges mind.

Sonic then looks at his reflection, realizing he really needs to speak to scourge. 

Sonic leaves his room, walking over to zonics room, checking zonic isn't in .

Sonic walks over to the cage where scourge is being held, on the floor is a plate of the generic food paste produced by the machine they took off space colony ark . Sonic looks at scourge who glares at him growling. Sonic sighs "i believe you... you're innocent... i just have to get zonic to believe me"

Scourge huffs and turns away "he will always believe that im to blame, im nothing more than a criminal to him... always will be"

Sonic puts a hand through the bars of the cage, offering it to scourge "i will prove your innocence, ill find the evidence "

Scourge takes the hand "thank you..."

Sonic looks down at the paste "should I get you some actual food?"

Scourge shakes his head "nah... i just... it doesn't matter...not anymore "

Sonic gently squeezes scourges hand "i have void magic now..."

Scourge, interested in the change of topic, raises an eyebrow 

Sonic smiles "i guess I leeched them off you when we fell in that pit"

Scourge nods, thinking "who knows, you might have inherited my swimming skills, you should try it " 

Sonic chuckles nervously "not a chance "

Scourge smiles, for a split second he can pretend he's not been put in a cage so small he can't lay down properly.

Sonic hears zonics footsteps approaching the room "ill think of something to prove your innocence"

Scourge nods, letting go of Sonics hand and sitting back down in the corner. 

Sonic wills himself out of the room, teleporting to the hangout room, 

Zonic leads Chuck into the room, Chuck looking disappointedly at scourge. 

Scourge sighs looking down at the floor, not able to look at the disappointed look on chucks face.

Chuck places a hand on the bars of the cage "tell me sonny, honestly why would you do it?"

Scourge shakes his head "i didn't...im not like that anymore " scourge looks up at chuck , making eye contact "i didn't do it"

"Don't tell me that Sonny boy, you'll give me false hope..." Chuck looks away with tears falling down his cheek.

Scourge looks down at the floor " 's true though... just wish everyone believed me" scourge looks back up at Chuck. 

Zonic rolls his eyes at scourge "keep lying convict, it'll get you nowhere "

Chuck sighs, turning to leave the room "I'll be back tomorrow... Scourge"

Scourge nods, mostly to himself, as Chuck and zonic leave the room. Leaving scourge alone in the dark.

Through the silence scourges ears pick up a faint song, and in the distance thunder.

Scourge looks out of the small window, hearing rain begin to fall, the wind cooling and giving the dark room a chill.

As scourge listens to the rain and music , his mind drifts , imagining what he dreamt of last night, a tear falling from his eye 

He remembers how he felt for zonic, before all this 

The music drifts through the window 

🎶{  
You're just too good to be true  
Can't take my eyes off of you  
You'd be like Heaven to touch  
I wanna hold you so much  
At long last, love has arrived  
And I thank God I'm alive  
You're just too good to be true  
Can't take my eyes off of you}🎶

Scourge looks out the window, knowing that even with how zonic is treating him , that still doesn't change how scourge feels deep down. It just makes the feeling hurt. Scourge sighs , curling up, letting the tears fall from his eyes. 

🎶{  
Pardon the way that I stare  
There's nothin' else to compare  
The sight of you leaves me weak  
There are no words left to speak  
But if you feel like I feel  
Please let me know that it's real  
You're just too good to be true  
Can't take my eyes off of you!}🎶

Scourge curls up tighter, the rain pushing the cold air into the room. Scourge takes off the jacket zonic made for him, holding it close to his chest as he wraps his wings around him drowning out the music. 

Even with the muffled music echoing in the background, scourge falls asleep, hiding his sorrows behind a dreamless facade 

Zonic slightly opens the door, a flash of lightning illuminates the room, just for a moment. All zonic can see is scourge, huddled under his wings. To see him locked in a cage pains zonic, but justice comes before any other emotions 

🎶{  
I love you, baby  
And if it's quite alright  
I need you, baby  
To warm the lonely night  
I love you, baby  
Trust in me when I say  
Oh, pretty baby  
Don't bring me down, I pray  
Oh, pretty baby  
Now that I've found you, stay  
Oh, pretty baby  
Trust in me when I say  
Oh, pretty baby}🎶

With the quiet music in the background zonic slides to sit on the floor, tears falling from his eyes . Zonic puts his face in his hands, his mind conflicted, letting the tears run down his arms .

The music changes to another song, but zonic can't help but think of how much he denies his emotions, only able to imprison scourge by pretending he is just another convict...zonic sobs into his hands, curling up on his sleeping mat outside his room, and falling asleep.


	5. JUSTICE

Zonic wakes up to shouting from the hangout room, between presumably blue, tails, sonic and Solaris by the sounds of it.

Zonic streches, grabbing a bowl of nutrient paste from the machine on the wall and taking it in for scourge. 

He opens the door, hearing scourge sobbing in the cage. The sound making zonics heart wrench , as zonic carefully puts the bowl next to the untouched bowl from yesterday .

Zonic thinks about apologising but sighs, shaking his head and leaving. 

Zonic heads downstairs, arriving in the middle of the argument. 

Sonic shouts "well thanks to your brothers theiving habits , my best friend is now in a cell so small he can't lie down "

Tails shouts at sonic "OH? So he's your best friend?! What am i then, i thought we were bros"

Sonic speaks, his voice sounding hurt "tails, you already know what you are to me, you're not just a friend, you're family. My little brother "

Tails sighs "i - i know... im just stressed out "

Solaris speaks, their anger echoing through their voice "Zonics rule was there for a reason and you two broke it, i understand familial bonds , but allowing someone to exist off of our cities computer systems has caused one of our own to be implicated in a crime he didn't commit"

Blue shouts "they were gonna die, they weren't supposed to leave that dimension after we rescued them, they were supposed to heal the city. "

Solaris raises their voice "not to mention that by killing that dimensions Robotnik you destabilised that dimension"

Blue sighs "okay i fucked up, thats what you wanna hear , i let my emotions get the better of me and foolishly went into another dimension and murdered some people. Thats what you want to hear me say right?

Solaris sighs "no... look we'll have to explain everything to zonic, hopefully he'll see that scourge isn't involved with the heratic's death , and we can focus on finding the real assassin "

Sonic huffs "what like zonics gonna believe us"

Zonic chuckles "what am i not gonna believe "

Solaris speaks angrily "blue and tails broke your rule about taking scourge out of the dimension "

\--------

Chuck carefully opens the door to zonics room, carrying a plate of chilli dogs. He walks up to the cage , seeing scourge huddled under his wings, curled up . The bowls of paste are untouched, now solidifying in the cold room.

Chuck sighs "sonny, you have to eat something "

Scourge shifts slightly, the smell of chilli dogs getting his attention. 

"No one believes me..." Scourge whines.

"I know Sonny boy, all the evidence points at you."

Scourge takes a bite out of the fresh and hot chilli dog and looks away.

Chuck sighs and walks away "I'll see you tomorrow"

"You should be thankful convict. Most would have given up on you" said Zonic in a cold and unfeeling tone.

Scourge growls "yeah, but some people aren't like you. Most people would fucking listen to me, check the fucking feed on me from the time of the murder. Or are you so dedicated to believing that im nothing more than a murderer that you'd keep me locked up here"

Zonics eyes widen, his brows furrowing in shock "i... i don't want to look at the feed, I'll see you do it... i don't want the final bit of proof... i want to believe you... i... "

Scourge growls "then look at blue's feed, or Tails' feed then theres all the proof of my fucking innocence you need"

Zonic sighs, shaking his head "im sorry scourge, if not you then who was responsible, someone has to be punished for it"

Scourge growls "you know that dimension blue kept going to, well it turns out he has siblings there... named manic and sonia.. Sonia is pink... manic is green. "

Zonic rolls his eyes"youre implying they got here without getting on the system?"

Scourge growls "i fucking know it"

Zonic nods "we'll start looking for this other green hedgehog... but until then you're our only suspect "

Scourge sighs "can you at least undo my handcuffs? My wrists hurt"

Zonic shakes his head "sorry, precautions, just in case "

Scourge sighs as zonic leaves the room, kicking the bowls of paste .

Scourge glimpses his reflection in one of the inactive monitors, realising it looks obvious that he's been crying. 

Scourge sighs "who am i kidding ... they're not going to find manic, they'll rather me be punished "

Scourge growls as he glimpses shadow enter the room "come to gloat over my pain have you, stripes?"

Shadow tuts and rolls his eyes "and here i was thinking you'd be happy to hear i believed you "

Scourge is taken aback "y-you believe me... why... you of all people have no reason to believe my innocence "

Shadow walks up to the cage "you seem like the sorta guy who'd brag about the crime if you'd done it"

Scourge looks at shadow uneasily "why though, ive done nothing but insult you and glare at you..."

Shadow shrugs, smirking "what can I say, you remind me of myself when I was young... zonics told me as he passed that im supposed to look for a green hedgehog hiding in the city... but he also told me its not a big priority "

Scourge sighs looking at the floor "yeah... knew it was too good to be true, that he would believe me all of a sudden... "

Shadow puts a hand through the bars of the cage "i know most of us believe you now... we may have read your diary "

Scourge blushes slightly, attempting to bring his wings to cover his face, but the cage is too small 

Shadow chuckles " dont worry... zonic refused to look at it"

Shadow grabs the cage keys off the desk beside him, just as mephilis walks in accompanied by tails, sonic, Antoine, cub and Ginger. 

Cub walks up to the main monitor and types in the feed from when scourge was supposedly doing the crime.

They see scourge and blue sitting on a small damaged section of the interdimensional highway, chatting together while they wait for the dimensional flux to pass .

Cub points "there , unquestionable evidence of his innocence... now lets see"

Cub types in, flicking through views until he gets the feed from the magmobian candidate. 

They all watch as a hedgehog who clearly isnt scourge walks into the room, throwing a quill on the floor, before sneaking over to the jewellery box. Just as the hedgehog picks up the headdress the gunshot fires and as the hedgehog turns they are illuminated by the light... its obvious its manic.

Tails growls "it was manic in that room... but even he wasn't the culprit ... can you find the feed from that person? "

Cub flattens his ears "i can try "

Cub clicks through several thousand feeds until he gets one "aha ... they've modified their file and seem to have tried to hide their identity "

They look at the pixelated feed on the screen. They note that the specific mobian is so pixelated its difficult to crack any identifying features. They do note that the gun isn't pixelated or hidden in anyway.

Shadow inspects the rifle closely " wait... i recognize that rifle...that was fangs old rifle... that means whoever that assassin is , is somewhat related to the old weasel 

Shadow spins the key to scourges cell, between his fingers "so everyone ready to go to zonic with the evidence?"

Cub nods "all 3 feeds are saved to our computers , lets go confront zonic"

Shadow nods, opening scourges cell "zonics got the keys to the cuffs so.."

Antoine steps forward "just hold your arms out and try not to flinch"

Scourge holds his arms out, Antoine unsheaths his sword and slashes down at the chain , slicing easily through it.

Scourge only realizes what happened when the chain uselessly bumps against his wrists 

Antoine puts the sword away, stepping closer to scourge and effortlessly removing the control collar. 

Scourge rubs his neck, where the collar rubbed "so now what?" Scourge glances back at the cage .

Tails nods "now we push the evidence onto zonic and bring justice ourselves... shadow can you find the assassin and bring them here?"

Shadow nods , quickly running off using everything at his disposal to hunt down the weasel. 

Tails nods at sonic, "lets do this"

Sonic smiles as metal walks into the room "have you got it?"

Metal spins the key to scourges cuffs around a finger, passing it to sonic who undoes the cuffs.

Scourge nods and follows the rest of the team out as they walk down to confront zonic. 

Zonic gasps as he glances up from his paperwork to see scourge "why ... he's supposed to be locked up "

Mephilis chuckles "it seems you'd not only locked up an innocent hedgehog, but you also ignored obvious proof of his innocence "

Sally looks up from her paperwork "whats this about evidence "

Zonic growls "whatever evidence it is it won't change anything "

Sally tuts "show us the evidence "

Cub plugs his communicator into the large screen in the hangout room, showing the 3 feeds at the same time. 

Zonics face drops as he watches the three feeds.

Chuck, who is sat in the kitchen watches the feeds before walking over to scourge and pulling him into a hug " I'm so sorry sonny boy, this won't happen again I tell ya"

Zonic sighs "still, even though you've proven your innocence, the people would want someone to blame "

Shadow growls throwing a purple weasel-wolf hybrid into the room "why not blame the actual assassin "

The assassin tries to punch shadow "you don't understand, she couldn't be in charge she was lying about her connection to chaos...she -"

Zonic sighs "enough... i have all the evidence i need. Ill take him in for questioning... can't believe I trusted his witness statement "

Zonic drags the weasel off towards his room to question him.

Sonic puts a hand on scourges shoulder "lets go up to your room, yeah ?"

Scourge nods slightly, walking swiftly up to his room, throwing the jacket zonic made him in the corner. 

Sonic, metal and shadow walk into the room. 

Scourge looks at the diary open on his desk "who read it..."  
Shadow smirks "just me,sonic and mets."

Metal grins pulling scourge into a hug "i always knew you were sweet on him , i hope the two of you can work it out"

Scourge huffs "not a chance... he treated me like nothing, didn't even listen to me "

Metal sighs slightly " shh cmon lets forget about him for now, Antoine's bringing drinks and we're all going to relax have fun."

Scourge nods "ah o-okay"

Shadow sits on scourges bed " are you okay? "

Scourge growls "why'd you care stripes" then sighs "no... i just feel drained"

Antoine walks in dragging a crate of cooled drinks. 

Scourge slowly exhales "look.. guys , i don't know if im feeling up to your usual sorta party..."

Antoine puts a hand reassuringly on scourges shoulder "not all of ze parties involve ze debauchery or scandalising of eeach other. We all decided zat tonight is to relax with some drinks and tell each other some stories "

Scourge looks at them "okay.. sounds good, uhh you're welcome to sit down "

Antoine sits down on scourges comfortable sofa, smiling as scourge sits on his bed next to shadow . And sonic and metal sit next to him. 

Antoine passes a can to each of the hedgehogs around him. 

Sonic smiles, opening it and chugging half the can . "So who first "

Metal shrugs, shifting forms into his neo form, to allow him to utilise his taste receptors he's been working on. Metal takes a small sip of the lager... "this... certainly has a taste... i don't know what i was expecting, i have no frame of reference for tastes"

Sonic puts an arm around metal, nuzzling into his side "my dear we have to get you to sample everything in this building, cakes, chilli dogs , ice cream "

Shadow chuckles, "coffee "

Antoine nods, putting his own addition to the list "ah i zhall cook some of my favourite dishes yes?"

Metals eyes slightly increase in brightness "you'd do that for me? "

Antoine nods "of course"

Scourge thinks " apple pie would be nice for you to try... and to see if i remember how to bake one.. haven't even thought about baking one for years "

Metal smiles happily "i have no idea what an apple pie tastes like but i bet it'll be amazing "

Scourge looks at shadow "you have apples still right?"

Shadow nods "yeah, but they're sweeter than they used to be "

Scourge grins "even better"

Shadow pats scourge playfully on the shoulder , scourge responds by playfully elbowing shadow. 

Sonic hums thinking of a story. Downing the rest of his beer while he thinks.

Sonic absentmindedly crushes the can slightly between his hands "ah shadow remember that time when we were still just living in that cave outside of the ruins?"

Shadow chuckles "are you gonna tell the bathing incident or the " shadow does air quotes " 'im not jacking off its just cold in here and im itchy' incident "

Sonic grabs another can "HEY! I thought we agreed to never speak of the bathing incident again ... i was gonna talk about how we used to sing songs around the fire , trying to keep ourselves going another day"

Scourge chuckles "hey now im interested in this bathing incident"

Sonic glares half heartedly at shadow before rolling his eyes. 

Shadow chuckles "so for about 3 or 5 years after the bombs , wasn't long in the grand scheme of things. Me, sonic, tails,amy, silver, our version of blaze and rouge were all living out of a cave in the less irradiated part of the forest outside of what used to be called station square. There was this small stream that came from the mystic ruins down to the ocean and by our tests it wasn't irradiated. "

Sonic smirks and continues telling the story "so we got our cleanish water from upstream and bathed downstream, keeping things sanitary as much as possible .  
Of course to avoid uhh, certain situations... we designated that males bathe one day and females bathe another day... sensible right?"

Shadow chuckles "all was good until I walked into you jacking off in the water... everyone saw and joked about the water suddenly tasting salty"

Sonics cheeks are tinged slightly red "hey its not like you were never caught doing shit like that, or does us walking in on you humping my pillow not count"

Shadow shrugs, drinking "hey i still looked cool doing it, but admittedly we all embarrassed ourselves living in that cave. Only stopped when we helped eggman found crashpoint "

Sonic sighs "id say it stopped when amy died of radiation poisoning "

Shadow sharply inhales through his teeth "yeesh... sometimes watching a hedgehog rot while still alive just stays in your memory forever "

Sonic chuckles trying to avoid the situation "well that was depressing, lets move on"

Shadow chuckles "i do have something to pique your interests " he glances to check the doors closed "im gonna propose to mephilis "

Sonic gasps "awww , you two are adorable , oooh show me the ring"

Shadow huffs "how do you know theres a ring "

Sonic rolls his eyes "i remember you looking at rings when I proposed to metal "

Shadow blushes slightly "uhh so i was..." he pulls the ring box out of his quills "be careful with it. . . It was hard getting it made without mephilis noticing "

Sonic looks at the ring "i-its beautiful " sonic closes the box and hands it back to shadow, who quickly hides it again 

Scourge chuckles, seeing the dark hedgehog so flustered. 

Scourge attempts to take a sip of his drink but realises its empty , he grabs another one and learns back slightly on his bed.

Sonic chuckles "so scourge, got any good stories?"

Scourge raises an eyebrow "you sure? Most of what I used to find fun isn't exactly what you'd like to do "

Sonic shrugs "hit me"

Scourge smirks "actually thats pretty much what I used to do for fun, start fights with sonic prime"

Sonic leans forward, taking a long swig from his can , before clicking his tongue "any particularly spicy fights?"

Scourge tilts his head slightly, "spicy?"

Sonic shrugs "you know, spicy, ah.... extreme?"

Scourge shrugs in response" well at one point I fought both prime sonic and prime shadow at the same time... and may have had to escape from the fight when it got out of hand"

Shadow raises an eyebrow in interest "oh?"

Scourge chuckles "same day I became scourge, i decided to pick a fight to show off.. you're scary... every version of you ive met is terrifying... "

Shadow smiles, putting an arm around scourge, who immediately looks uncomfortable. "Every time I've picked a fight with a sonic, I've lost ... unless you count mets , then he's the only one ive beaten in a fight... admittedly though i wasn't fighting him 1 on 1 "

Metal rolls his eyes "no you all teamed up and beat me through " speaking in a mocking tone "the power of friendship "

Sonic rolls his eyes and playfully pushes his head under Metals chin 

Metal chuckles "i do admit I went overboard with the whole attempting to destroy the world thing"

Sonic smirks "gods i practically fell in love with you there and then , strong, handsome, powerful , and feared by eggman himself ... what was a power bottom like myself supposed to do, not get incredibly aroused and have to quickly whack one off before anyone realised?"

Metal nuzzles sonic "im glad i soon realised I had more emotions than i originally imagined... even if it took 200 years of being inactive in an irradiated forest "

Scourge chuckles watching the two nuzzle each other lovingly "lovebirds" 

Sonic flicks his ear in scourges direction "hey scourge don't diss it until you try it"

Scourge huffs "with who?"

Shadow chuckles "hey im always open"

Scourge downs the rest of his drink "uh... okay.... how do we "  
Shadow pulls scourge closer, carefully rubbing his cheek against scourges.  
Scourge stiffens unsure how to proceed, shadow purrs "just relax "

Scourge chuckles slightly "i don't think ive ever been relaxed "

Shadow puts a hand on scourges quills, gently brushing down them causing a deep purr from the green hedgehog. 

Shadow chuckles softly "even your purrs sound angry "

Scourge growls "what do you mean "

Shadow shushes him "shush "  
Shadow softly scratches behind scourges ears causing scourge to slowly close his eyes. 

Shadow moves to slowly pressing his forehead against scourges, and gently nuzzling him. Scourge purrs softly, and shadow reciprocates , purring with him.

Shadow slowly moves away from scourge, smiling as scourge slowly opens his eyes. 

Scourge grins "that... felt nice"

Shadow nods"see. C'mere , lay down "

Scourge carefully lays down , letting shadow guide his head to rest , with his cheek on shadows thigh . Shadow slowly brushes his fingers through scourges quills. 

Scourge purrs "i can't drink like this though "

Shadow nods letting scourge sit up, smiling as scourges face seems slightly less tense.

Scourge takes a swig from his drink, feeling the strong beer's effects moving up to the pillows and laying back, Antoine moves to sit next to him 

Antoine feels the duvet cover softly "you certainly know what ze most comfortable material iz" 

Scourge shrugs "after getting nothing my whole life, i felt like I deserve it "

Antoine nods "zat you do" he carefully removes his shoes "i don't wish to dirty ze bed with my shoes, zis ok?"

Scourge nods "go ahead "

Antoine smiles and carefully sits cross legged on the bed .

Sonic leans back on the couch, drinking another can of beer, swaying slightly. 

Shadow hums "i have a funny story " pausing to take a swig from his can "so back before the bombs i had a nice apartment in station square, all decked out, gaming pc and leather sofas "

Sonic chuckles "i haven't heard this story " raising an eyebrow in interest. 

Shadow chuckles in response "so the thing is i had basically a swarm of teenage humans who would just sit outside the window shouting how much they loved me... it was uhh endearing at first but they got creepier the longer i ignored them... "

Scourge sips his drink "oh? Can relate, at first when I became king people kept trying to get me to fuck them for bragging rights"

Shadow laughs, "yeah... well it was all fun and games till i woke up with a large lady standing over me holding this long pillow with a printed picture of me in....a compromising position...on it"

Sonic laughs "fucking hell, didn't realise you had such a issue with the crazy fangirls too "

Shadow continues laughing, the warm husky sound making scourge instinctively smile.  
Shadow laughs barely able to get out his sentence "t-too? Fuck do tell"

Sonic chuckles "you think waking up with them in your place was bad... they managed to find me when I spent a week round rouge's place to get away from them... then they wouldn't stay away from either of us "

Shadow snickers, "theres some things i don't miss about humans "

Sonic smirks and relaxes, chugging the rest of his drink.

They're interrupted by a knock on scourges door

Shadow takes a swig from his drink "ive got it"

Shadow opens the door, only to close it again. But the door is stopped by the visitors foot .

Shadow growls slightly "what do you want "

Scourge can't see the person on the other side of the door, but can recognise his voice.  
Zonic sighs , sounding like he's been crying "c-can you tell scourge... im sorry .. i-"

Shadow growls, throwing open the door and picking up zonic by the scruff of his neck "tell him yourself "

Shadow throws zonic into the room, swiftly closing the door. 

Zonic hangs his head in shame , tears falling from his eyes "sc-scourge i i-im so sorry.. i didn't..i don't...i made a mistake.. im sorry... i"

Scourge huffs, seeing zonic crying in front of him, makes him feel hollow inside 

Zonic sniffles "i 'm so-rry , i should have believed you.. . I sh-ould ha- known it wa-snt you" zonic looks up at scourge, tears streaming from his eyes. 

Scourge looks into zonics eyes , seeing the genuine sorrow and regret in zonics emerald eyes, which are darkened with sadness. 

Scourge sighs, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. As much as it pains him to see zonic crying, is he realy ready to forgive the zone cop for falsely imprisoning him... scourge then remembers how, despite everything, zonic forgave scourge for almost killing him...

Scourge slowly gets off the bed , carefully kneeling next to zonic and pulling him close . Scourge puts his chin on the top of zonics head. Zonic sobs against scourges chest scourge just sits there letting zonic cry... before sighing "if you can forgive me for almost killing you... i can forgive you for falsely imprisoning me... at least in my case the pain was all emotional "  
Zonic continues sobbing, and scourge sighs, carefully running his hands down zonics quills.

Zonic nods, still sobbing against scourges chest.

Scourge sighs slowly standing up, zonic whimpers as scourge moves away 

Scourge picks up zonic and carries him over to the bed sitting down leaning on the pillows , with zonic crying against his chest. Scourge sighs "do you want a drink zonic..."

Zonic nods slightly 

Scourge chuckles slightly "you can't drink it with your face against my chest."

Antoine shuffles to the side to make room for zonic to sit next to scourge if he wants 

Zonic sniffles and huddles to scourges side , sipping from the can of beer scourge passed him.

Scourge sighs, "cmon lets do something" scourge gets off the bed, walking over to his desk and opening the safe , pulling out a warp ring

Scourge smiles at everyone as they look at him confused "you might all want to wear warm clothes... ill wait for you all to get back " scourge chuckles. 

Metal doesn't move, as he watches everyone rush off in confusion. Scourge walks over to the coat in the corner, pulling it close and then carefully putting it on. Struggling with the snap fasteners under his wings.

Metal smiles at scourge, "i can tell a weights been lifted off your mind" 

Scourge quickly looks at metal, twitching an ear at metal 

Metal walks over leaning on scourges desk, flipping scourges diary to the last page "you're obviously in love with him, look you're like a schoolgirl with a crush" metal points at the beautiful sketch of zonic drawn in the back of the diary.

Scourge growls, snatching the diary off of metal "im not!"

Metal chuckles "i don't have the entire human internet in my mind to not be able to call you a deredere anime schoolgirl "

Scourge gasps in mock shock then shrugs "i don't know what that means.. but it feels like an insult "

Metal chuckles louder "just ask him out already you nerd..."  
Scourge shakes his head "i... not yet, too soon"  
Metal nods "i understand, so whats the plan ?"

Scourge grins "you'll see... i know a good spot"


	6. The return of the Star God

Zonics first to arrive back in scourges room, wearing a insulated bodysuit with fur around the collar. He nervously sits on scourges bed , half hoping scourge will ignore him, half hoping scourge will speak to him. Scourge looks at the skin tight black bodysuit zonic is wearing, noticing the discreet hexagonal pattern of the weave . And noticing that the bodysuit leaves nothing to the imagination

Scourge blushes slightly, admiring zonics toned yet not too muscular body. Evidence that his exercise is built for endurance instead of brute strength. Zonic catches a glimpse of scourge admiring his body and blushes slightly, looking away.

Sonic is next to return to the room , wearing a dark blue fleece jacket, jeans and a woollen hat with two pom-poms on the top where his ears would be.

Antoine walks in next wearing a fluffy hoodie and a scarf.

Shadow walks in last, wearing a black puffer jacket with white fur lining the hood, and light grey fur trim.

Scourge nods and activates the warp ring, and everyone steps through to the location scourge chose.

A large clearing in a forest, with the floor blanketed in snow and a large pile of rocks off to one side.

Zonic looks around as scourge secures the warp ring round his wrist, "so scourge, whats the plan?"

Scourge smiles "i thought we could have fun in the snow and have a campfire or something "

Sonic stretches "sounds good" he bends down and throws a clump of snow at shadow.

Shadow gets hit in the chest, he growls before bursting into laughter and doing the same at sonic.

Metal looks at the pile of rocks and starts assembling them into windbreak and shelter, three large curved walls with a large flat rock to set the fire on.

Scourge watches zonic cautiously throw snow at sonic , and get tackled playfully into the deep snow in response.

Scourge nods at metal and grabs more slabs of slate to create a floor for the shelter

Once the main shelter is complete metal runs off to spray snow over sonic.

Scourge smiles and shouts "im gonna go get some firewood"

Shadow shouts back "don't get lost"

Scourge nods and walks off uphill towards the mountains feeling the void tug on him as he approaches the mountain. Scourge sighs letting the void sight guide his way.

Scourge follows the path up the mountain, looking back at the clearing in the distance... unsure of how he walked this far in such a short period of time. Around him he sees a few ethereal mobians watching him . Their fur seemingly made of galaxies and stars. One watches him with an intense stare and when he goes to approach them they point up towards the peak of the mountain. Scourge looks at the spiralling path up the mountain, reaching out with his power and pulling himself up the mountain.

As he nears the top he can see the stars, yet the ground below the mountain has shifted to be covered in a dark orange blanket of clouds.

Scourge reaches the final plateau, more of the cosmic mobians are kneeling here , seemingly worshipping something.

Scourge looks around at the mobians as they mumble amongst each other. Hearing snippets of conversation from the undead around him.  
"A voidwalker , soon our god may return from the stars"

"He shall bring a new age to the void"

"The star god shall control the chaos, bringing an end to the tyranny "

Scourge walks forward slightly, the plateau shifting from barren rock to a ruined temple.

Scourge concludes the barriers between the void and mobius are fluid here, allowing the realities to blur together.

Scourge looks at the floor, a large circular stone with a thin crescent carved into it is sat in the centre of the temple. Scourge feels like he remembers that symbol from somewhere.

Scourge then realizes the majority of ethereal mobians surrounding him, are echidnas .

Scourges fur stands on end, as he feels the air around him still and grow colder.

Scourge watches as the stars in the sky and on the bodies of the mobians seem to slowly move , migrating towards the stone crescent on the floor.

Scourge watches as each of the spiritual mobians brings a knife to their throats, all slicing swiftly across their necks in synchronicity. Quickly black liquid pours from each of the spirits slit necks , following grooves in the white stone until it coalesces in the crescent in the centre.

Scourge watches as reality seems to tear above the circle, the pinpricks of starlight now starting to form a body, distinctly mobian but scourge can't yet tell the species.

The mobian looks at its hands as its fingers sprout and then form themselves. Scourge originally thinking the colour is from the starlight now realises the mobian has white fur. The mobian stands, half formed on the crescent, slowly clenching its fists as the black liquid slowly climbs their unfinished legs.

As the liquid flows upwards it leaves the body beneath fully reformed, as the black covers the mobian completely, scourge can now recognize that they are an echidna...

Scourge immediately knows who it is, taking a step back in shock as the black recedes into the echidnas eyes turning them from the white clouded eyes of a corpse to black sclera with glowing yellow irises . The only thing not created by the liquid was any form of clothes, but the echidna doesn't seem to care.

Scourge growls at the echidna , remembering how much he disliked working with him .

The echidna smirks "ah i had the exact number of souls, willingly given, to cross back over to the land of the living... ill have to begin collecting again"

Scourge growls more, taking a step back towards the edge.

The echidna takes a deep breath "as much as I disdain asking for assistance from someone such as yourself, i very much doubt there is any other option "

Scourge bares his teeth "finitevus i refuse to work with you, not anymore. You're planning to destroy us all i know it"

Dr finitevus' grin only widens "ah, thats where you're wrong , as much as it pains me to say , your city continuing to exist in it current state is important to my plans"

Scourge narrows his eyes as dr finitevus continues "and your cooperation, whilst not necessary for my plans would be beneficial for you as well as i"

Scourge tilts an ear , listening "okay youve got my attention.. whats your big plan "

Dr finitevus compresses his corrupt chaos energy between his hands, slowly forming a dark purple emerald, swirling with a black mist. "You will guard this emerald, it will protect you, and it will be vital to our plan"  
He forces the emerald into scourges hands, before stepping back "now i shall prepare for my next step, ill find you when im ready to proceed" scourge feels something wrap itself around him, then the gut wrenching feeling of falling. Between blinks he realizes he is falling, away from the earth, towards the stars.

Scourge flaps his wings instinctively, grabbing the tip of the mountain as he dangles uselessly above the cosmos.

\--- ---

Scourges grip fails him, he tumbles towards the stars , clutching the corrupted emerald. Scourge puts the emerald in his quills for safe keeping and tries flapping his wings, clamping his eyes shut as he falls.

Once his nausea fades scourge realises he's no longer falling , scourge slowly opens his eyes, he's hovering over the first plateau of the mountain. He slowly decreases the strength of his wing beats, clumsily landing on the floor

Scourge takes a deep breath , smoothing down his feathers and quills , checking the emerald is still secured .

Scourge huffs quickly scooping up a handful of dry twigs and takes a deep breath, stepping to the edge of the small plateau.  
Scourge spreads his wings, stepping back to give himself a running start

Scourge jumps, gliding down towards the large clearing in the distance. Scourge experimentally flaps his wings, accelerating him.

Meanwhile, at the camp.

Sonic huddles next to metal "fuck the snow got in my jacket "

Shadow chuckles, laying down in the snow "you started it"

Sonic moves to throw snow at shadow but everyone's attention is drawn to the sky .

Scourge shouts "sup , guess who learned how to fly" then attempts to land, barely remaining on his feet.

Scourge throws the firewood into a pile and gets out his lighter, starting the campfire.

Zonic streches out, hexagons changing colour on his insulative suit , as it warms.

Scourge sits down next to zonic, as Antoine opens a bottle of strong whiskey

Antoine takes a long swig of the drink, then pases it across to sonic. Sonic takes two quick swigs of the drink and passes it across to metal.

Metal sips it, then immediately passing it to shadow , shadow takes a long swing before passing it to scourge.

Scourge takes a swig and passes the rest to zonic. Scourge chuckles "fuck thats strong , i feel it already "

Zonic drinks the last mouthful of the whiskey,

Zonic chuckles "fuuuuck , whats in this "

Shadow chuckles, looking at Antoine "it seems like my boys been helping himself to my personal alcohol stash.... its blended with some of silver's stuff, allows it to make you more drunk, faster"

Antoine chuckles slightly, swaying as he shrugs

Shadow chuckles "well im already dreading tomorrow, we're gonna get more drunk , don't think I can't see that bottle in your pocket 'twan "

Scourge chuckles slightly, as zonic leans on him , sliding down with his head in scourges lap.

Scourge smiles, softly stroking zonics spines, zonic purrs directly into scourges crotch .

Scourge looks away, blushing slightly, but trying to avoid the situation. Zonic continues purring, each purr punctuated with a deep inhalation against scourges thigh.

Shadow chuckles "so we were planning on singing something around the campfire?"

Antoine nods "allzough my singing voice is nowhere as good as eet was a few years ago"

Scourge chuckles "i didn't think this far ahead "

Scourge activates the warp ring, a small guitar falls through into the snow beside him.  
Scourge slowly moves zonic to the side as he holds the guitar.

Scourge strums the guitar, checking its tuned correctly  
Scourge cracks his knuckles before strumming a few chords and then looking around at the others "any ideas what to sing?"

Sonic shrugs, " dont look at me, i haven't sung like this in years... in decades probably..."

Antoine shrugs "no ideas"

Scourge stretches "well maybe not sing then, lets head home when the fire dies"

Shadow nods, yawning.

The fire crumbles slowly into the snow, scourge throws the guitar through the warp ring , and waits for everyone else to walk through before glancing at the mountain and following behind.

Scourge stretches, taking off his jacket and kicking off his shoes.

Antoine excuses himself from the room as scourge gets into bed.

Scourge closes his eyes, only to open them when he feels someone climb into bed, shimmying into a position where scourge is spooning them. Judging by the short spines amongst the fur, whoever it is has stripped off completely. Scourge hears sonic and metal leave the room and slowly opens his eyes.

Scourge finds zonic asleep, body flush with his, and softly snoring.

Scourge sighs and spoons zonic tighter, pulling zonics ass flush with his hips.

Scourge closes his eyes , slowly falling asleep.

Sonic glances in at the two of them from the doorway, smiling.

Sonic glances in zonics room as he leaves, looking at the prisoner in there and hearing a strange beeping from the monitors. Sonic slowly enters the room and the assassin rolls his eyes "mute the damn thing it has been beeping for ages"

Sonic looks at the screen "dimensional hazard level 9 ?"

Sonic presses the mute button and leaves the warning for zonic to deal with in the morning.

Sonic chuckles "if zonic asks i was never in here"

Sonic walks into his room, smiling at metal who is laying in bed reading a book.  
Metal chuckles, "how are they?"  
Sonic chuckles "scourge? He looks happier , i think he and zonic will probably wake up tomorrow and sort things out between them "

Metal puts a bookmark in his book, before putting it on the table beside him. "Good they're cute together "

Sonic puts an arm around metal, putting his chin on Metals shoulder.

Metal relaxes his shoulders into Sonic rubbing himself on him.

Metal smiles, scratching behind Sonics ears, listening to sonic purr

Metal grins, pulling sonic close. Warming his nanites to a warm cozy temperature, enjoying the happy purrs his husband makes .

Metal looks at sonic, who has now fallen asleep, and feels the irresistible urge to cuddle him tighter, but instead just rests his head on sonics and slowly enters sleep mode.

\-----

Deep in a cave , in the badlands of mobius , the return of a once feared technomage has caused an uproar amongst some of the last of a lost civilisation

The rifts seemingly deposited others of the species into the dark city. The last place of this mobius which retained its naturally occurring green chaos emeralds.

Those from other dimensions who knew of the intruder rush to tell the leaders of the city of the threat.

Although the centuries of subterranean habitation had made the native inhabitants of the caves near blind , they were not blind to his threat.

Yet they welcomed him to their city , just as they had the others. The newer residents still getting used to the near darkness of the city, and obvious amongst the natives who had evolved rudimentary bio-luminescent patches on their heads .

The visitor first is disgusted by the changes in his species, but then scientific curiosity drew him to interest in the altered mobians and in how the two old clans of the people had put aside their differences and thrived after generations upon generations underground

The visitor studies the architecture, subtly amazed at how the natives had presumably hand carved their city out of the solid rock of the cavern , with a lack of technology and tools they had survived down here. The remote location of the city and it being deep underground seemingly protected it from total nuclear annihilation.

The technomage abandons his disgust at the corruption of his people and instead asks the leader of the city's history. The leader with his greying fur smiles, reciting the history.

"Long in the past, the chaos was green, one colour for our mobius. The ancients had a terrible plan, to coalesce the emeralds of each of the blessed places throughout the stars.

The green chaos of mobius

The cyan chaos of weeet

The blue chaos of xorda

The red chaos of thoraxia

The yellow chaos of Eve

The purple chaos of teragosa 6

The grey chaos of argentum

All of the naturally occurring chaos emeralds were formed into the 7 servers.

All except the master emerald and here.  
Our people guarded the master emerald for millennia, before other mobians had learned beyond stones. Our two clans were once in conflict until we lost our great city, we seeked a new home, finding this sacred cave . And so we remained, here.

After centuries of prosperity, the ground above us became hostile to our presence forcing us to limit our interaction with the master emerald, which remained outside our city. Then the first day of reckoning for our people, the ground shook as if gaia itself were displeased with our presence, the entrance to our city was sealed off by a wall that even the mightiest of our warriors cannot dent. And with the entrance to our city we were cut off from the outside, and with it the master emerald , and the servers.

Our technology wouldn't function without its connection to the master emerald, we were forced to return to a more primitive lifestyle with only the remaining crystals here to fuel our power.

We do not know if our trading group survived outside to protect the master emerald. "

The technomage finds himself with multiple questions but is quickly ushered to a large plinth where an echidna dressed in fine clothes of gold leaf and silver is laying.

The leader sighs "unfortunately, to continue to exist so closely entwined with the chaos energies, the environment here requires certain unpleasant actions on a decades long basis"

The technomage watches , first in interest, then disgust as the echidnas kneel around the young echidna on the plinth.

They all speak in harmony  
"The servers were the seven chaos, chaos is power enriched by our hearts , the controller served to unify the chaos"

The young echidna screams as their body shifts from organic to one made of crystal, a statue of themselves made of chaos energies

The leader looks to the visitor "ah but i have introduced you to our culture without exchanging pleasantries , do tell your name " holding out a hand to shake

The technomage chuckles taking the hand "you can refer to me as doctor Finitevus , and you are?"

The aincient echidna smiles "i am Dimitri , they refer to me as the grandmaster, the elder and leader of our city"

Finitevus smile gains an interested glint "ah now thats a name i recognise from my old home" he chuckles slightly "a great scientist of his time, created a wondrous machine that I later adapted "

Dimitri smiles, in interest "ah with what little technology we had i created that machine there, it may look like a simple plinth. But it is a siphon, draining chaos energies from a chosen echidna and releasing it into our city , allowing us to exist with our connection to the emeralds ready for our eventual return to the surface "

Finitevus smirks with intrigue, wondering if every version of every mobian makes similar discoveries in their life.

Dimitri bows his head, "ah but you must be parched, let us feast , and rejoice at the arrival of a great scientist such as yourself "

Finitevus looks around at the city, seeing its corruption of the ancient echidna ways, but perhaps for science this settlement can continue. If only to test how curiously the echidnas had adapted. "Yes let us feast"

He follows the old echidna to a large building carved into a dark rock, bio-luminescent vines wrapping up the pillars providing light to the visitor.

Finitevus is guided to a chair at one end of a table as Dimitri sits at the far seat.

A drink of glowing vibrantly coloured liquid is brought out in large quartz glasses and along with them a platter of beautifully cooked meat, clearly fresh .

He looks at the knife and fork on the table next to the stone plate in front of him and carefully takes a slice of the meat and cautiously cuts a mouthful sized chunk off, noting the blood trickle from the fresh steak.

Finitevus carefully puts it in his mouth, feeling how it practically melts in his mouth and tastes similar to chicken , before swallowing and taking a sip of the drink tasting a faint metallic taste to the drink. "Ah might you tell me what this is " he gestures to the steak before taking a second bite.

Dimitri smiles, his clouded eyes shine with a dangerous glint for a split second "ah it is the only food source we have down here, we call it by many names, but it is all we've had to sustain ourselves for centuries "

Finitevus smiles "ah can you not eat what this meats source eats? "

Dimitri chuckles "they eat the flesh too, there is no other food , dispite how that line has been bred for more meat at a younger age, we still struggle to survive "

Finitevus nods having now finished eating "have you considered returning to the surface?"

Dimitri hums "rejoining with the chaos energies, its tempting. Although we would have to adapt again to whatever food is out there"

Finitevus nods "before I retire for the night do you mind showing me the cattle you get this meat from "

Dimitri nods slightly "ah it is not your usual... cattle, so to say"

Finitevus listens in interest as Dimitri continues "their ancestors gave their bloodline so we all may survive, and for them it is a life of unchasteness and debauchery "

Finitevus then realizes that he ate the flesh of another mobian, more specifically if another echidna. Only resisting throwing up through not wanting to displease his host. His disgust must be visible on his face however.

Dimitri chuckles "you have taken the news far better than the others , fear not we eat only out of necessity, if we return to the surface we will keep our hunger in check"

Finitevus nods "ah i must get back to my studies , i will return in the morning "

Dimitri nods "very well, we await your return "

Finitevus quickly throws a warp ring and returns to the mountain temple , as soon as the ring returns to his hand he finds himself staring at his list of potential allies "ugh how disgusting for my species to stoop so low as to corrupt themselves with such a vile act"

He paces back and forth "next to attempt those overlanders, maybe someone on this forsaken planet is a competent ally "

Finitevus takes a long drink of water, trying to get the taste of mobian flesh out his mouth "i won't discount the cave dwellers from giving their lives to my cause however "

Finitevus looks at the wrappings on his hands , and envisions his cape, summoning it into existence and then putting it on.  
"Unfortunately I was hoping the cave dwellers would have more connection with the master emerald than they have, they will be unsuitable for my project, i will have to seek out an echidna in mobotropolis, and perhaps give the mobians some pointers on the location of that acursed cave. They can cleanse the people of their vile feeding habits "

Finitevus finishes monologing and flicks a warp ring out, headed to the human city "lets proceed as planned, get the overlanders to join my army, i can decide who will be a suitable candidate for my project later "

Finitevus activates his warp ring and travels to the last city of humans, hoping to get some form of technology to begin his plan.


	7. Freeing the lost city

Scourge wakes up as the sun shines into his room, slowly opening his eyes and smiling slightly as he sees zonic in his arms. 

Zonic sighs and huddles closer to scourge before streching and rolling to face him , slowly opening his eyes. 

Zonic nods "good morning..."  
Scourge smiles "mornin..."

Zonic chuckles slightly "im sorry "  
Scourge pulls zonic tighter "s'kay"

Zonic sighs "i never meant anything i said when you-"  
Scourge hums "its fine... i know "

Zonic takes a deep breath "i should feed the prisoner, wanna come with?"

Scourge huffs "sure"

Zonic climbs out of bed, putting his shoes on and blushing as scourge gets dressed. Zonic gets a bowl of nutrient paste from the dispenser outside his room and walks in to see every monitor flashing with dimensional hazard level 9.

Zonic growls "why isn't it giving a warning sound "

The assassin chuckles from the cage , covering for the hedgehog who did him a favour "i was trying to sleep so I threw something at it"

Zonic pushes the nutrient paste into the cage , and types on the main computer "fuck... who is it, all hazard level 9 are either downgraded or dead"

Scourge sighs "they must have found a way back to the land of the living" 

Zonic checks who it is "doctor finitevus... we're doomed he'll destroy us all for fun and then nuke the planet again just for the sake of it"

Scourge nods "i had a weird dream about him last night... maybe its coincidence or maybe he tried to tell me something "

Zonic tilts his head in interest "what did he say?"

Scourge makes a show of remembering "he said ' your cooperation, whilst not necessary for my plans would be beneficial for you as well as i' i said i was listening, i said I didn't trust him and then he mentioned that he'd rather not ask for help but he doubts there's any other option "

Zonic hums in thought, nibbling slightly at the skin between his thumb and finger as he considers it "i very much doubt he would go to you again after you betrayed him, if he is i take it he's desperate . What could have him so rattled he would-"

They're distracted by loud gunshots and yelling from downstairs 

Scourge and zonic glance at each other before running downstairs, they run in just in time to see smoke billowing out of an open warp ring, and a bloodied white echidna clutching their ribs.  
As the warp ring returns to him he puts a hand on the kitchen counter steadying himself, his cape tattered and charred. He growls "do tell me you at least have some form of competent medical care here " he moves his hand away from his ribs, looking at the blood-soaked wrapping on his hands and then at the blood welling from several wounds on his lower chest. "They're so set in their hatred they're unwilling to listen to reason "  
Scourge runs over "what?"

Zonic seems unsure what to do, torn between wanting finitevus to die to rid the universe of him, and between helping him just for the sake of hearing him out

Finitevus puts a hand on scourge, blood trickling between scourges quills as it drips from the wrappings.

Tails finally stops panicking from the sudden arrival of the tall mobian and runs over "what happened?"

Finitevus huffs "i had planned to persuade the humans to let me borrow some of their technology, but it seems they wouldn't be open to diplomacy "

Scourge sighs "you have all that chaos power though, you could kill them all with the snap of your fingers "

Finitevus growls "thanks for reminding me... it seems that despite my body swiftly returning to me, my power seems to like slowly meandering back to me"

Zonic speaks from across the room "so you're powerless? Even so Im not going to release a dimensional hazard 9 on our cities medical system "

Tails nods "ill have to check for any bullets left in you, we can go down to the medical room and-"

Dr finitevus narrows his eyes "here is fine"

Tails stutters slightly, "ah ... okay " 

Finitevus sits on the leather couch blood pooling slightly beneath him.  
Tails looks at silver, silently requesting him to get medical tools from the basement. Tails looks at the injured echidna in front of him and carefully activates a scanning mode on his miles electric. Scanning for any bullets remaining in his body.

Tails sees three large bullets, positioned in amongst the echidnas chest cavity.  
Silver runs in with a handful of vials.

Tails nods, carefully removing his gloves and putting on a pair of sanitary gloves. He carefully pushes his fingers into the wound using magic to lift the bullets slowly out of doctor finitevus' body .

Once tails is sure any foreign bodies in his patient are removed he gives the go ahead for silver to heal him .  
Silver nods and pushes healing magic into the echidna as soon as silver steps back, dr finitevus stands up "that will be all.. i do suppose I have been made in your debt" he summons a small silvery cube and hands it to tails "that makes us even"  
He throws out a warp ring and leaves .

Zonic sighs "well he hasn't killed us yet, we must be important to his plan"

Knuckles wheels into the room "what happened, i felt a surge in the master emerald "

Tails opens the cube after struggling for a while, it projects a location with a set of coordinates 

Boom knuckles runs in the room "is the master emerald okay, i had to get amy to do the portal i ran as fast as i could" he sounds out of breath. 

Tails gasps as he reads the projection "theres other echidnas?"

Knuckles practically falls out his wheelchair "wait what!?" 

Scourge looks at the coordinate and flicks out his warp ring."well gather everyone and lets go"

"You can't trust this thing, the guy who gave it to you, the master emerald tells me he's bad news" said Knuckles.

"We know this guy, we want to hear him out for now. If he's any trouble I'll take responsibility and end him" stated Zonic

Shadow and mephilis walk into the room "we're going with, Solaris wanted to speak to us first however "

Mephilis closes his eyes, before opening them beamin light out. He projects the visage of Solaris "doctor finitevus us not to be trusted, he has many times betrayed those who put their trust in him." Solaris takes a deep breath " however if he is desperate enough to come to us for help something bigger is out there.. i would normally advise against working with him but we should hear him out... and we should keep an eye on him"

Sonic smirks "hey we have tons of rooms empty" 

Solaris gasps "you're not implying we have him live here?" Then thinks "perhaps you have a point... if he resides here it would be easier to keep an eye on him "

Sonic nods "and we can convince him to keep us alive when he's done with us"

Solaris chuckles "unlikely, i can give you all knowledge of everything he has done if you wish"

Sonic nods, watching Solaris pilot mephilis body close to sonic, putting a hand on Sonics head and pushing the knowledge into him  
Sonic gasps as he understands everything 

He sighs "even so... i think he wouldn't come to us if he wasn't desperate "

Scourge huffs from by his active warp ring "you coming or nah?"

Iblis runs over "wait for me"

Mephilis nods "now we can go "

Sonic looks around at everyone. Scourge, shadow, tails, silver, zonic, mephilis,iblis, knuckles and boom knuckles. 

They all step through the warp ring , the dry air around them. 

Scourge catches his warp ring as it returns to him and then looks at the large sandstone cliff in front of the team. He senses someone watching him through the void, turning to look at them.

Dr finitevus is standing on a rock , just watching, his cape somehow repaired and his fur pristine, his wrappings clean yet still looking aged.

Scourge huffs slightly "i thought you would have better things to do than wait for us"

Finitevus just closes his eyes slightly, a cloud of sand billowing through the valley, buffeting against the cliff face.

Scourge can see that the sandstone is in fact deposited upon a pre existing structure. 

Scourge summons his sword, scratching at the surface, and stepping back as a small chunk flakes off revealing a solid black metal beneath. 

Iblis looks at the metal, kindling a flame in his hands and pushing it at the exposed surface.  
After a few seconds of power he lowers his hands, allowing scourge to step forward and inspect any damage. 

Scourge sighs "not a scratch on the metal "

Mephilis cracks his fingers "i can control metal to a pretty good degree, lets see if i can tear it "

Mephilis clicks his claws against the metal, pushing his power into it.

His arms strain with the force and magic he's applying to the metal until his claws snap at the tip , sliding off uselessly.  
Mephilis inspects the damage, only to watch the metal heal the small grooves ,before his eyes. 

Mephilis steps back calling on his array of throwable sharp objects and launching them at the metal. Surprisingly only half shatter on impact with the wall .

Shadow nods, trying to knock off more sandstone with a volley of chaos spears.

Iblis looks at mephilis and puts a hand out, mephilis gets the hint and takes it, allowing their forms to merge into Solaris. 

Solaris cracks each of their knuckles before moving their hands to form a square and then a triangle in front of the pulsating crystal on their chest. They fire a beam from their chest, focusing it through their hands .

The beam glows brighter and brighter until it is almost blinding to look at. Solaris lower their hands 

The wall appears mostly undamaged, with only a dent where the beam hit.

Scourge looks back at doctor finitevus, to find him no longer on the rock.

Solaris sighs "not enough power , whatever it is its too strong, ill have to study this material ive never encountered it before "

Tails zaps the dent with lightning, keeping the metal hot. Silver grabs a long rock and pushes it against the dent, widening it

Solaris chuckles "silver , step back " watching silver put the rock down and get out of the way as Solaris summons a variety of rocks and crystals and begins to fire them at a high velocity at the dent.

After a few minutes, one gets wedged in the door and Solaris stops, floating over and prying it out to find a small hole in the door. 

Solaris claws at the hole, widening it enough to stick an arm through. 

From the other side of the wall they can hear a commotion. 

Dr finitevus walks up to Solaris, picking up one of the small chunks of metal and walking over to a flat rock on the cliff face. He pushes his power into the small chunk, watching it crack slightly. 

Meanwhile shadow has joined Solaris in trying to chip away at the metal. 

Finitevus huffs slightly watching them struggle before pushing through them and pushing his power into the jagged interior surface of the metal 

Solaris watches as a crack forms , spiderwebbing out of the small hole 

Finitevus walks back to the rock as everyone exchanges glances.

Dr finitevus sighs "before you ask me if i could do that all along, i first had to study whether it would work, to calculate the composition of the metal. I need not explain myself further to you"

Solaris nods, bracing themselves before pushing a large chunk out of the door.

The wall crumbles, almost trapping Solaris beneath the debris.  
Finitevus steps forward to the now open cave , greeting the elderly echidna who steps out, shielding their eyes from the sun "Ah Dimitri, i trust you knew i would hold up my end of the bargain "

Dimitri nods "our people will listen to you ... and we will try to leave our corrupt ways" 

Finitevus grins "very good"

Dimitri steps back into the cave "my eyes are rather too sensitive for us to leave during the day , please come into our city . And after the sun has set we shall depart "

Finitevus waits for Dimitri to be out of earshot before growling "it would be in your best interests to abandon your foul ways before rejoining mobian society "

Sonic tilts his head slightly "what do they do thats so wrong?"

Finitevus growls at sonic "they eat their own "

Finitevus walks into the cave , leaving the others stood out in the sun processing what was just said. 

Sonic sighs "knux... you ready to meet the rest of your species?"

Knuckles wheels up to the entrance "as ready as ill ever be," he looks up at boom knuckles "boom?"

Boom knuckles nods "by your side master"

Sonic leads them into the cave , following dr finitevus in the distance 

They arrive in a large room , finitevus looking at the mobians designated as food and power sources for the echidna tribe. Dimitri sighs "do with them what you must. I have preparations to make. Your friends should get home before we arrive and welcome us back to Civilisation "

Finitevus nods, watching as Dimitri leaves . He throws out a warp ring and orders the echidnas to walk through it. Before following them through , warp ring disappearing. 

Dimitri chuckles slightly "he took them , i guess here is not a suitable place for disposing of them"

Knuckles wheels forward "ah Dimitri was it, i am knuckles ex-guardian of the master emerald, and mentor to the current guardian "  
Boom knuckles nods "and i am referred to as boom, i am the current guardian of the master emerald "

Dimitri grins "ah so our traders once cut off from us did manage to continue guarding our sacred master emerald , i am honoured to be in your presence "

Knuckles smiles politely "ah the pleasure isall mine"

Sonic glances back as zonic, tails, silver and iblis leave the city through scourges warp ring. 

Tails walks out of the warp ring to find finitevus waiting for him , unemotional as before. 

Tails sighs "what do you want. "

Finitevus taps his fingers on a table "i require 1kg of titanium, 200 grams of 24 karat gold , a military grade laser focusing crystal , 4m of copper cable"

Tails looks confused "what on mobius do you need 1kg of titanium for... no. Im not giving you anything until you answer my questions , why do you need this stuff"

Dr finitevus growls "i need not ... fine, it seems my time away from the land of the living has left me without the resources to proceed with my project , i need these materials to build a certain object "

Tails hums , already sending cub and Ginger to retrieve the items "so why are you building this project , if its a threat to my city i will oppose it "

Finitevus rolls his eyes slightly "the only person who will be harmed is the one who calls himself the voidking "

Tails remembers what his evil counterpart did to his boy, growling slightly "well, if its to make my undead evil counterparts life miserable ... " his voice changing to a slightly malicious purr "you have my entire cities resources at your disposal "

Tails motions for cub and Ginger to carry the items into the room "and i extend my olive branch further to you, we have a room here you can have . It would make it faster for us to get resources to you "

Finitevus picks up the resources "my temple functions perfectly fine thank you, and my project needs unhindered access to the chaos energies in the stratosphere "

Tails thinks slightly "ah well in that case would it not be beneficial for your project to have direct access to the master emerald? Your temple could be relocated to the roof, over which angel island floats... whats left of it that is. With the correct persuasion i could get you unrestricted access to the master emerald "

Finitevus puts the materials down, clicking his claws on the table , he tilts his head slightly deciding whether or not to accept, he looks at tails. A smug, and malicious grin on his face "yes... yes that could work, very well i accept your offer" 

Tails nods, swishing his twin tails slightly "and you can have a room on our top floor , if anything is sensitive to the sometimes harsh weather we get here, it can be stored in there"

Finitevus picks up the materials "very well take me to my room , and make it known that i am not to be disturbed whilst in there"

Tails takes finitevus up to the top floor , none of the rooms here are taken. Tails chooses one of the larger rooms, which has a large window and a balcony. 

Finitivius looks at the empty room "it is empty, i had hoped for more "  
Tails scratches the back of his head "we can interface with the rooms and create anything we want with the computers, but you're not in our cities database so you'll have to do it manually on the terminal there"

Finitevus looks at the complex computer, putting the materials on the floor, before sighing "very well... put me in this database of yours " tails nods, walking over to the terminal and typing in a large variety of code and passwords before the terminal morphs into a small hand imprint . Tails looks at finitevus "put your hand on it"

Finitevus cautiously puts his hand on the small imprint, a small needle takes a sample of his blood while taking a full scan of his body.

Finitevus huffs "is this necessary?"

Tails passes the dispensed communicator to finitevus, who roughly takes it, looking over the small wrist mounted computer. 

Tails nods "i figured you for the type who wouldn't want any form of implants so you've got one that isn't integrated with you "

Finitevus huffs, putting on the communicator, tapping the screen slightly setting it up in default mode. Tails taps the wall terminal "just put the communicator there and you can adapt the room with your mind"

Finitevus does so , giving himself a desk, and other forms of furniture that tails doesn't understand the function of. 

Finitevus waves a hand dismissively "you may leave now "

Tails turns to leave before asking "i have my own reasons for hating the voidking, but what did he do thats got you so worked up"

Finitevus sighs, if he is to not go insane dealing with these people he must at least try and get them to leave him alone  
"I will not dumb it down for you, he is vile and will do anything to get revenge on the mortal world . He sees its corruption as i do but his methods are unscrupulous, believing that the world cannot simply be cleansed but instead must be destroyed. He refused to respect my authority as lead scientist on his project and so i devised a plan to return to the mortal plane , and kill him. After which i can proceed with my original plan for cleaning your city of its corrupted ways"

Tails breathes through his teeth "yeesh,ill leave you to it. You're welcome to use any facilities we have here at your discretion "

Tails walks downstairs, closing finitevus' door behind him . As he passes zonics room he sees zonic stood waiting  
Zonic tuts "tails we need to talk "  
Tails sighs

Zonic continues "you are seriously allowing him anything he wants? He will turn on you at the first opportunity "

Tails chuckles "but for now he will help us, and as the human saying goes. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, i feel even finitevus knows that "

Zonic sighs "you'll be the one to talk down knuckles when he starts shouting about someone corrupting the master emerald "

Tails shrugs "i got finitevus to put himself in the city database, we can keep easier tabs on him "

Zonic splutters "what how?! He would never willingly- "

Tails laughs "and he's moving his temple to the roof, already messaged Robotnik and he's fine with it"

Tails heads to the hangout room, just as everyone else returns home.  
A loud thud resonates through the building and tails smirks "and my guess is that is his temple being placed on our roof"

Knuckles goes to shout at tails, but dr finitevus walks into the room, forcing silence. 

Finitevus walks over to the fridge, grabbing a dragonfruit from shadows shelf on the fridge and then sitting on the barstool against the counter and peeling it like an orange, then picking up the white soft inside and eating that like an apple. He huffs "not the worst first food to taste back in the mortal plane "

Antoine, who is sat in the room, watching tv in the corner looks over "i could cook something for you " 

Finitevus raises an eyebrow "i will never tirn down free food"

Antoine grins "zis not often zat i get to cook something other than chilli dogs for ze sonics" he swiftly walks over to the fridge getting out a variety of ingredients . Finitevus watches him , eyes studying him , muttering silently "no you will not do either"  
Finitevus swivels the seat to look at knuckles, who is talking in a hushed yet angry tone to tails. Studying the disabled echidna, sensing that his injury has damaged his connection to the master emerald "a shame, you would have been a perfect candidate " he loiks at the taller muscular echidna next to the elder and studies him, "your apprentice is yourself from another dimension, curious, yet his connection to the master emerald is weak, nonexistent at worst. No as interesting as it would be to use an echidna as strong as he is for my project... he is not a worthy candidate "

Finitevus swivels on the barstool slightly, absentmindedly thinking, muttering silently to himself, trying to drown out the noise of conversation. "I had assumed those born for use as chaos batteries would be suitable, but theur minds were weak , not suitable for my project "

The smell of fragrant spices drags finitevus out of his thoughts, he glances at Antoine's cooking . Genuinely interested in the food.  
He looks at the white dough and finely ground spiced meat ,garlic and sauce.

Antoine cuts the dough into circles and puts a spoonful of the meat mixture into the dough circles and pressing them closed and then putting them in a pot of boiling water 

Finitevus goes back to his careful thinking, if there are no echidnas alive capable enough to carry out his plan... is his plan even worth it? He quickly buries that train of thought, if there are no echidnas left alive able to become what he needs, he will just have to find someone fitting the criteria who... isnt an echidna.  
Antoine places the beat array of dumplings in front of dr finitevus, noting the echidnas furrowed brows "are you ok? "  
Finitevus waves a hand dismissively "you need not trouble your mortal mind with the matters of a god"  
Antoine just smiles at the echidna and walks away to continue watching tv.

Finitevus huffs slightly, taking one of the dumplings and tasting it, its unlike anything he has eaten before, yet he thoroughly enjoys the flavour. Before he realises it hes eaten them all and his body is no longer complaining about the lack of food.  
He thinks to himself, perhaps he'll spare the dog, if only for his cooking skills.

Finitevus swivels around, looking at everyone in the room,  
Mephilis he would be a suitable candidate, but his mind is too strong for my ideals to take hold. 

Iblis... no .

Shadow, perhaps. He is certainly proficient in chaos energies, and his repeated guilt over marias death can be a good starting point for my project 

That shorter sonic, once i figure out what he goes by here i can fully consider him. He seems to have a lingering trauma that will be perfect for use in my project 

The others in this room are not suitable, scourge is a perfect candidate in every way except for the fact he is a corrupt despicable asshole and I refuse to give him my project 

Sonic sits next to finitevus, spinning the chair slightly "yo finitevus, we want to take you on a tour of our city , if thats ok with you "

Dr finitevus huffs "I've seen all i need of your wretched city"

Sonic shrugs "fine be a square "

Finitevus growls "a what?"

Sonic chuckles, enjoying the rise he's getting from the technomage " i called you a lame boring old man "

Finitevus gasps slightly "lame , boring?! You'll find that im by far the most interesting and intriguing mobian in the room "

Sonic smirks "only squares refuse to come visit the most " speaking now in a mocking voice "corrupt and immoral, parts of our city "

Zonic sighs from across the room, facepalming.

Dr finitevus growls "if you remaining alive wasn't so important to my plans . I would disembowel you here and now. And any further attempts to get me to visit places around your city will involve my claws entering your body "

Sonic chuckles, moving onto his knees on the stool "ah finitevus ~ lube them up first"

Finitevus splutters, he doesn't want to leave as that would be cowardice, yet he doesn't want to continue down this path of conversation. "Vile, even the insinuation that I would do such things with you of all people is sickening "

Sonic chuckles, "knew you were a prude but i didn't think you were leaning towards chastity "

Finitevus growls, restraining himself from violently eviscerating the hedgehog kneeling beside him "i will have you know that i have fathered children "

Sonic smiles, knowing how to continue getting a rise from the echidna "ah so you just can't get it up then"

Finitivius practically throws sonic onto the table, claws digging into the peach fur on sonics chest, drawing blood.  
Sonic moans causing finitevus to take a sudden step back.  
Finitevus growls "vile , disgusting. How dare you "

Sonic chuckles "perhaps a little bit of corruption is good for you, hmm?"

Dr finitevus huffs "you , and your world are corrupt beyond redemption. I have no need for such corrupting acts."

Sonic tuts "yeesh, when was the last time you had fun"

Finitevus exhales sharply through his nose " i don't need to do fun things. I only have to focus on the task at hand"

Sonic sighs" how about a deal. You spend one night out in the city having fun with us, and if you end the night without enjoying any of it ill leave you alone"

Finitevus sighs "very well if that is what it takes for some peace and quiet, it is a deal"

Sonic chuckles, messaging silver, shadow, Antoine and mephilis about his plan to get finitevus to stop being such a square.  
Immediately mephilis replies, saying that nothing sonic does will change the scientists mind, but it does sound fun.  
Shadow, Antoine, silver and mephilis soon arrive in the hangout room, sonic smirks "shall we get going finitevus?"

Sonic leads them out , first to the market where sonic hands finitevus some freshly made items. Finitevus takes each one cautiously sampling it . Sonic chuckles as finitevus finds one that he prefers, slowly savouring it.  
Sonic chuckles, buying finitevus a second one and handing it to him . Finitevus takes it and slowly eats it before growling slightly 

Sonic leads them to the large fountain plaza between the market district and entertainment district, stepping onto the plaza and watching the jets of water dance in the plaza . Finitevus watches the water, surprised that he's not been dragged to some form of brothel by now.

Sonic streches as the clock chimes throughout the city "lets take him to the black kitten, you got the drinks? "  
Silver chuckles "of course I do, low alcohol of course , with the secret ingredient you requested "

Sonic chuckles and leads them past the fountain, towards the entertainment district, 

Finitevus huffs , looking at the vile corruption around him as he follows sonic. 

Sonic pays the entrance fee to a large building and leads them inside. Finitevus looks around at the large gambling hall in the entrance, following sonic as he walks into the back room .

Finitevus growls, as the first thing he sees in the back room almost makes him leave, such a seedy, vile, place of unchasteness .

Sonic walks them over to a table in the corner away from the stage.

Silver waits for finitevus to sit in the seat, between everyone, before handing out the pale pink alcohol. 

Sonic chugs the alcohol, leaning back and putting an arm around dr finitevus.  
Dr finitevus glances at sonic before slowly sipping the weak alcohol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas


	8. Dr finitevus in da club *

Silver drinks his drink , watching finitevus sipping his drink.  
Shadow nods, drinking his pink drink 

Finitevus looks at the half naked mobians on stage, and serving drinks. Thinking to himself how much he dislikes such acts . Yet he feels warm , he was reassured that the drink was low alcohol so its not that.

Finitevus huffs slightly, looking at the others, who are all at least semi hard . He looks down at his own slight erection, muttering "im above such base desires. I-"  
Sonic shushes him "just enjoy yourself "  
Finitevus growls slightly but just leans back.  
Silver chuckles as mephilis gets out his vape, and puts a pink vial into the chamber. Mephilis takes a deep breath of the vape , breathing out a cloud over the others. Finitevus breathes some of the strawberry cream scented cloud, finding he doesn't mind the smell.

Mephilis passes the vape to silver, who uses it quickly before passing it to dr finitevus. Dr finitevus looks at the device. Sonic chuckles "go on , it'll be fun"  
finitevus growls "no thanks" ,and passes it to sonic. Silver purrs slightly looking at finitevus. Finitevus just leans back against Sonics arm , looking at the dancers on stage. One is a fox , her body perfectly sculpted, and her eyes seemingly sparkling as she puts on a show . 

A second is a male duck mobian, his muscular body contrasted with his fluffy feathers. He seems more agile on the pole.

The third is a female echidna, she seems to be one from a different dimension judging by the fact she isn't blind. It seems like she is uneasy in the limelight. But still the act only heightens the throbbing in his erection. 

Silver chuckles from beside him "its just like kitti to recruit someone as soon as they arrive in the city"

Sonic chuckles "hey new species, more profits"

Silver sighs, slowly trailing his fingers up dr finitevus thigh  
Finitevus growls and the volume only increases as silver moves to kneeling on the floor between finitevus legs.  
Finitevus bares his teeth slightly "what are you-" only to be interrupted by silvers gloveless spit moistened hands softly grasping his erection. Silver purrs, slowly spreading the echidnas legs , inching closer to the dark cock in front of him 

Silver slowly starts moving his hand, up and down the dick, enjoying the growls he's getting from finitevus . Sonic chuckles, leaning close to the echidna, slowly nibbling along finitevus neck .  
Mephilis chuckles, moving to finitevus other side and doing the same, long tongue flicking out against the echidnas collarbone. 

Silver leans close, slowly lowering his mouth onto the echidnas dick. Finitevus growl seems to get stuck in his throat, as soon as silvers mouth touches him.

Silver sucks slightly on the tip before lowering his mouth, taking the entire length into his experienced mouth.

Finitevus lets out a growl like moan as silver bobs up and down on his dick.

Finitevus growls loudly, gripping the side of silvers face with his claws , standing up and dragging silver up onto his knees.  
Finitevus growls, thrusting deep into silvers mouth and pulling silvers head forward as he does so. "Ah you take me so nicely , willingly submitting to your superiors" finitevus quickens the pace, moving one hand to grip silvers spines and tilt his head slightly to hit the perfect angle. 

Sonic chuckles, watching finitevus facefuck silver. Silver moans around the echidnas dick, as finitevus growls. 

Finitevus tips his head back and pushes Deep into silvers mouth. Filling silver's mouth with cum as he pulls out. 

Finitevus sits back down, glancing at sonic "very well, you win sonic... but make no mistake, i will participate in no such activities in the future "

Sonic puts an arm around the scientist "hey i managed to give you the welcome to our city that we give every guy who moves in to our palace "

Finitevus huffs slightly "it makes no difference, such places will be cleansed once my current project has been resolved "

Sonic puts his chin on the scientists shoulder "what is your project?"

Finitevus sighs " there is no point keeping it from you, perhaps you can find me a good candidate "

Sonic nods, as finitevus continues "a certain undead mobian who refers to himself as the voidking has insulted me to the extent where i wish to destroy him and his realm. To do that i need a mobian who is connected to the chaos, and has a strong mind but not too strong to resist my influence "

Sonic chuckles "and I take it thats why you took those echidnas away earlier "

Finitevus nods "they were not suitable "

Shadow chuckles "and my guesses are that you would prefer to use an echidna "

Silver chuckles "and there aren't any suitable echidnas are there"

Finitevus nods, growling slightly 

Mephilis sighs "shall we head back to mine and shadows room to keep talking about this ?"

Finitevus sighs "very well "

Shadow chuckles slightly as mephilis opens a portal and guides the others through. 

Finitevus glances around the room looking at the plush velvet blankets on the bed  
Mephilis smiles "lets sit on the bed, comfier to speak"

Finitevus sits on the bed , leaning back against the pillows 

Mephilis streches next to him  
"So i take it you've already ruled out me , being the wisdom of a god is likely too strong for your needs"

Finitevus nods , folding a leg over the other 

Sonic hums "do you mind me asking what your project entails?"

Finitevus sighs " i am hoping to recreate enerjak in a dimension he never existed in. Hence why i believe i am able to use a non-echidna mobian as the body for my ideals to be carried out through. "

Shadow lays between finitevus and mephilis, "what are you going to do with this enerjak ?"

Finitevus huffs "i will first destroy the voidking and his realm.. and then i will rid this world of its corruption "

Sonic moves to lay between finitevus legs, tucking his spines down to avoid injuring the echidna "well any way we can change your mind?"

Finitevus growls "no. Your world is corrupt and it must be cleansed, although in my time observing your world... i have come to realise that some cybernetics are a necessary evil for life to survive in this world, nether the less once the world is healed to a safe extent i with push to remove cybernetics also"

Mephilis sighs "Solaris has decided to inform me that the spirit of enerjak doesn't exist anymore, and never had in this dimension and so your plan to recreate him would likely fail "

Dr finitevus hums in thought "hmm even so , the first enerjak was created without the spirit of enerjak "

Mephilis sighs "your dimitri was not the first enerjak, he existed before in two previous incarnations. An aincient echidna of your dimension, guided to ascendancy by the ancient walkers. And an echidna who was removed from history, at time of the forgotten war. Dimitri was the third incarnation. and your knuckles, was the forth"

Finitevus thinks , closing his eyes as he processes the information.  
"So with no aincient walkers, there can be no ascendance to chaos god, and without that there can be no spirit of enerjak... which in turn prevents enerjak from existing "

Sonic hums in thought "so all it would take to create enerjak would be someone ascending to godhood through chaos energy "

Silver tuts "why are you helping him, he wants to kill you all"

Sonic wags a finger "hey, but first he wants to be allies with us to destroy the voidking and the humans "

Silver huffs "whats your problem with humans sonic?"

Sonic chuckles "are you forgetting who fired the nukes at us?"

Silver crosses his arms "im having no part in this " he walks out of the room 

Sonic cracks his joints "where were we, ah , so as i was saying all it would take is someone to become a god through chaos energy "

Finitevus nods, pushing his spectacles up his nose as he continues thinking 

Sonic streches "so what would be the criteria for through chaos energy, most of us in this palace are at least demigods , and tails, silver, shadow, mephilis and iblis are full on gods"

Finitevus just sighs , closing his eyes to think

Shadow rests his cheek on finitevus chest "so what does enerjak look like"

Mephilis sighs, projecting a image of enerjak 

Shadow and sonic gasp slightly.  
Sonic chuckles "looks like the old armor Tails' personal guard force used to wear"

Finitevus hums "of course, such similarities in certain designed objects seem to occur across dimensions, a constant "

Sonic thinks "how do the warp rings function?"

Finitevus tilts his head "what do you mean, you have portal technology " 

Mephilis sighs "our portal technology is based off of Solaris super-dimensional power, he wants to know how you created your own portal technology "

Finitevus hums in thought "mine are simply powered by my own form of chaos power, allowing me to bypass the dimensional flux that can prevent direct dimensional travel "

Mephilis gasps "your warp rings are immune to the time dilatation of dimensional flux?"

Finitevus looks smug "of course they are, your portals are not?"

Sonic chuckles "our portals often end with us waiting on the remains of the interdimensional highway until our bodies sync with the dimension "

Finitevus chuckles slightly "its easy to fix"

Sonic smiles "can you fix it"

Finitevus growls "i did say it was easy... yes ill fix it"

Sonic smiles "thanks fini"

Dr finitevus growls "you will refer to me as dr finitevus, or just finitevus. Do not insult my name "

Shadow smirks and closes his eyes "hey its late shut up and sleep "

Sonic grumbles and closes his eyes. Finitevus looks at him "i can't leave if you lay there"

Shadow grumbles "shh sleep "

Finitevus huffs slightly before closing his eyes , the light in the room automatically deactivating. 

Zonic is watching them on his monitor, he sighs "sonic you idiot, don't encourage him... once he's done with the void king he'll turn on you "

Tails chuckles slightly from the seat next to him "he really doesn't know not to trust people , does he?"

Zonic chuckles "no... no he doesn't "


	9. A curious operation

Dr finitevus is the first to wake, feeling physical warmth from the mobians cuddled up to him, and then disgusted by what actions were performed the day before. 

He thinks slightly, now he has told them of his plans he has more eyes looking out for the perfect candidate. Perhaps yesterday's corrupt actions were a necessary evil for his project to proceed . Finitevus sighs , he has made too many leniencies with his world view, allowing the mobians cybernetics in such a harsh environment is one thing... but allowing such freedom in such acts? No.. that oversteps the line, he is far above such base desires. 

Shadow beside him mutters in his sleep, nuzzling the technomages chest in his sleep. 

Finitevus sighs, slowly moving sonic off his legs and stepping out of the room. He walks upstairs, onto the roof where his temple is and sits on the rock he was reborn on . Thinking...

He is slowly drawn from his meditation by the sensation of being watched. He opens his eyes , feeling with his mind for whos watching him.

He notices it is the current guardian of the master emerald, and sighs slightly "you are new to the echidna traditions aren't you?"

Boom knuckles sighs slightly, "how did you know ?"

Finitevus huffs "i can sense the chaos energy in everyone, in you it seems unsettled, the connection forced and fresh like a wound. Bleeding out of you"

Boom knuckles scratches the back of his head "yeah... im new to the whole chaos thing"

Finitevus is curious at that statement "are you implying your home dimension has no chaos energy?"

Boom knuckles shrugs "we had no emeralds or master emerald, i sorta had no purpose other than being the so called himbo of the team"

Finitevus huffs slightly, not knowing the words meaning but understanding that it likely is an insult to the fellow echidna "do tell there must be some chaos energy in your dimension "

Boom knuckles thinks slightly "my version of shadow can still do the same things as this dimensions shadow... i prefer the shadow here, the one back homes sorta a dick"

Finitevus nods, understanding slightly why the echidna standing before him is so disconnected from the master emerald, yet further proving to him that every knuckles has an innate ability to connect with the master emerald, and alpha-prime locke only amplified the connection to the extreme by the actions performed on prime-knuckles' egg.

Boom knuckles thinks slightly "you seem more in tune with chaos stuff than my mentor was..." 

Finitevus nods slightly , focusing on trying to mentally scan the city for a suitable candidate for enerjak. 

Boom knuckles sighs "i know my mentor would disapprove... but would whatever your doing be easier if you could access the master emerald?"

Finitevus opens his eyes slowly "ah i wouldn't wish to encroach on the territory of the current guardian " his voice slick with coercion 

Boom knuckles smiles "oh its no problem with me, and my mentor has to respect me allowing you up there"

Finitevus stands up, flicking out a warp ring "after you "

Boom knuckles steps through the warp ring, and finitevus follows him up.

Boom knuckles laughs "wow that sure was easier than climbing up the chains"

Finitevus looks around at the destroyed island, and at the crumbling altar housing the master emerald "chaos ... what happened here"

Boom sits on a fallen pillar "master knuckles says that the humans targeted the island, they knew it was sacred to us and wanted to destroy it to hurt us emotionally "

Finitevus walks up to the master emerald, looking at the hairline cracks running through it. Listening to boom knuckles continue 

Boom knuckles looks at the floor "he says that after the humans attacked, the emerald lost its power for a time, angel island fell to the ground and knuckles slowly dragged what was left of the island across the sands for a decade before the emerald reawoke and knuckles was able to situate it above the original city... and yet the emerald survives, a testament to the strength of chaos"

Finitevus watches a crack spread across the emerald, the island shuddering slightly. 

Boom knuckles sighs "oh... its crumbling again, i thought it had stopped when I did the prayer "

Finitevus huffs "crumbling?"

Boom knuckles points behind him to the edge of the island "the island loses about a cm a month ... doesn't seem much but in 150 years it will reach the emerald ... and the island will be gone... and, well we don't know if the emerald will survive that "

Finitevus sighs "have you not performed the prayer with the chaos emeralds situated in the correct positions?"

Boom knuckles shakes his head "tails says the chaos emeralds are destabilised until all 7 return to the planet "

Finitevus gently pats the master emerald "well where are they" he glances over at boom knuckles. 

Boom knuckles just points at the sky "three have returned, but they never stay in one place long enough for us to use"

Finitevus looks up, before sighing and shaking his head. "Does tails know their obiting paths?"

Boom knuckles shrugs "probably "

Dr finitevus slowly takes his hand off the master emerald, he throws a warp ring and steps into it, leaving boom knuckles alone on the island .

Boom knuckles grumbles, walking over to the edge of the island and climbing down the chain . "Could've let me down with his ring "

Knuckles is sat at the base of the chain looking disappointed in his apprentice .

Boom knuckles crosses his arms "master, as you have said many times before, i am an adult and I can make my own decisions, and I decided to allow him up there. He did nothing besides seem shocked that the island is crumbling. "

Knuckles sighs , wheeling closer "i thought we stopped the emerald from cracking further "

Boom knuckles nods "finitevus suggested that it requires the 7 chaos emeralds placed in their correct positions to heal the emerald "

Knuckles chuckles slightly "oh im not falling for that again, too many times have people made me get the chaos emeralds for the sake of me guarding the master emerald ... although it was usually eggman tricking me"

Boom knuckles shrugs "it doesn't matter, i told him the chaos emeralds were in space anyway "

Knuckles sighs "lets head downstairs, his temple creeps me out"

Knuckles wheels himself into the elevator , heading down to the hangout room, as the doors open he sees the usual goings on.

zonic and Sally doing paperwork, scourge looking like he's trying to help. 

Mephiles,Antoine and Bunnie watching some cooking show  
Cub and Ginger trying to beat uncle Chuck in chess.

Sonic, silver, shadow and metal chatting about something 

Blue napping in the corner. 

And dr finitevus raiding the fridge... well thats new.  
Shadow chuckles glancing over at the echidna rummaging through the fridge "looking for anything in particular?"

Finitevus grumbles about something and grabs a pale green drink from silvers drawer in the fridge.  
Silver laughs "fini you might not want to drink that, you wont like it, take something from sonic or eggmans shelves, they're safe"  
Finitevus huffs slightly, putting the drink back before grabbing a glass bottle of a deep purple liquid from eggmans shelf.

Knuckles wheels over to sonic, and finitevus glances at him "your body would refuse cybernetics "  
Knuckles looks down slightly "my body is too entwined with chaos... and too aged when i lost my power"

Finitevus huffs "i could give you free movement again. You might die, you might live... all i want in return is to study your body"

Knuckles scoffs at the idea "don't be ridiculous, I don't need your help" knuckles looks away in defiance.

Finitevus shrugs "very well, I hoped you would survive the year, your particularly helpful and studying you would help my research"

Knuckles gulps 'survive' what does he mean? like my active life style or literally he would die. He has lived so long death or not being around has been a concept he hadn't ever considered.

Shadow raises a brow "your probably fine knux, you don't have to fall for this"

Shadow gets completely ignored.

Knuckles raises an eyebrow "have you done this before?"

Finitevus glances at him "i have, not to a version of you , but to my dimensions version of Dimitri "

Knuckles thinks slightly "ok...what do you mean study my body"

Finitevus takes a small sip of the drink in his hand, "im curious how a severe injury like yours, could cause such a loss in connection to the master emerald "

Knuckles hangs his head slightly "is it that obvious?"

Finitevus exhales a silent laugh "to me? Very... to others... likely not"

Knuckles looks at Shadow for any sign of support, unfortunately he just shrugs in response.

Knuckles sighs , "what does this operation of yours do?"

Finitevus hums , knowing that doing this can further these people's trust in him. Which in turn gets him access to more hard to aquire resources ... "it will allow you free movement, extended lifespan, and given i can aquire the necessary resources... hovering... although i believe the more specific resources will be far too hard to find "

Everyone is paying attention now, Shadow looks especially guilty not having guidance for his friend.

Shadow puts his hand on Knuckles' shoulder letting Knuckles know he has his full support.

Knuckles sighs slightly, "what do you need?"

Finitevus grins, "4 metres of polycarbonate, 1m of borosilicate glass , 50 petri dishes with whatever growth medium you use here... i need access to a reasonable amount of aluminium, steel, tungsten carbide, copper "  
He counts off the materials on his fingers as knuckles writes them down. 

Finitevus points at silver and beckons him over. "You... who made your robotics?"

Silver smiles slightly "uhh i did?"

Finitevus grins "good, make 18 of these" finitevus summons a small rolled up blueprint and shoves it roughly into the hedgehogs hand. 

Finitevus looks back at knuckles "i will need to prepare, i will retrieve you when I am ready"

He walks swiftly out of the room , leaving knuckles sat looking confused. 

Finitevus walks downstairs, into the basement. Looking at the room marked medical 

He pushes open the doors and steps in to see a surprisingly pristine room, although he senses someone standing behind him. He turns, face to face with Solaris. 

Solaris chuckles slightly "there is something deep in your mind that you have no answers to "

Finitevus growls but finds himself speaking nonetheless "the master emerald exists here, but i thought It was a by product of mogul being drained of power that he stole from Enerjak "

Solaris laughs "ah have you noticed that certain objects are constants throughout cycles "

Dr finitevus raises an eyebrow "cycles ?"

Solaris smirks "you can already see can't you "

Finitevus growls "no.. ... it can't, have i done all this before?"

Solaris chuckles "you? Maybe... but here no.."

Finitevus clutches his head slightly" does anything matter?.. do my actions change anything "

Solaris smiles "ah , every action you perform is decided , every time you make a decision the choice is decided long before you make it "

Finitevus growls "my actions cannot be decided, if anything I do is pre-determined, are my goals purposeful "

Solaris smirks slightly, "but i have a plan, far above anything of the mortal plane or the void."

Finitevus looks into Solaris glowing eyes "what could be more important than anything here? Than reality?"

Solaris chuckles "i plan to break the cycle"

Dr finitevus closes his eyes "how... if the cycle is as i assume, its a law of the universe. "

Solaris puts his hands on finitevus head , pushing knowledge into him " so many times ive inched closer to the abyss beyond reality. But this world has opened my eyes... i have realized that breaking the cycle doesn't free me from existence... it allows a timeline to continue... forever. No more resets. And we're almost there this time, only a few more triggers to go, and a few more people to collect "Solaris laughs "and i didn't even start it this time, the humans did"

Finitevus opens his eyes "why are you telling me this, as you said before 'ill turn on you when I get the chance '"

Solaris chuckles as he turns, leaving the room "i have shown you that there are higher stakes than your views on this world "

Finitevus growls as he's left alone in the medical room unsure what to think of the knowledge forced into his mind.

He huffs walking over to the desk and preparing to operate on knuckles. 

The door swings open as cub and Ginger carry in the majority of the materials necessary .  
Finitevus grins "you two are certainly efficient "  
Ginger nods grinning back "we built the warehouses, and organised them. Other people have to look on the computers to find things "

Finitevus hums looking over the materials "are you his children?"

Cub tilts his head slightly "uhh, kinda. We're actually him from other dimensions... but he's a lot older than us , so he adopted us"

Finitevus writes something down on a paper on the desk, handing it to Ginger "that was certainly kind of him, can you find me one of these"

Ginger looks at the paper and flies off with cub following behind. 

Finitevus chuckles, grabbing the glass, and plastic and starting on the project. 

With his hands he forms the materials, no machinery required for someone as proficient in chaos as he is. 

Silver opens the door, finitevus huffing slightly as he places the 18 identical parts on the desk "uhh yeah they're done, need anything else?"

Finitevus waves a hand dismissively "that is all, your craftsmanship is certainly above what I expected from you "

Silver nervously leaves the room. 

Finitevus chuckles, "all that's needed now is knuckles , and perhaps with my alterations he can be a -oh i should stop trying to entertain that thought, he has been disconnected from the master emerald for far too long for my project... and if what boom said is true, perhaps even the master emerald itself is unusable..."

Finitevus looks at his communicator, tentatively poking the screen, typing a message to knuckles that all is ready for the experiment .

It only takes 10 minutes for knuckles to wheel himself into the room. 

Finitevus chuckles "the process may take a couple days"

Knuckles laughs, "i don't care how long it takes, i want to be able to move again, to be able to carry things. . . To not have people pity me and instead respect me as the powerful echidna i am "

Finitevus grins "ah just know, i will do all that. However if you are unhappy with your new form you can't blame me"

Knuckles shrugs "i don't care what I look like, i just want to be free from this dammed chair"

Finitevus nods, carefully picking up knuckles and moving him to the medical bed. Feeling how light and frail he is

Finitevus carefully lays knuckles down on the bed, summoning a machine from his room, and plugging various needles into knuckles body.

Once the needles are in he works on slowly taking stem cell samples from knuckles. Knuckles groaning in pain "am i supposed to be awake for this "

Finitevus chuckles "this bit, yes. I need to know if ive killed you or not"  
Finitevus makes notes of the readings on the machine before flicking a switch and watching as knuckles falls unconscious quickly as a black liquid flows into him.

Finitevus puts on medical gloves as he carefully gets to work carefully cutting the skin just above the collar bones, and then a swift line down his chest, opening up his chest finitevus carefully cracks through the collarbones , removing them and placing them in a bucket on the floor. He carefully cuts through the windpipe, below the voicebox , carefully attaching a ring to prevent the windpipe from collapsing and swiftly getting to work rerouting all blood vessels through machinery to prevent the brain from dying. 

Finitevus alters the form of knuckles blood with his chaos, attaching a oxygen transferal system to the machinery, and to the ring of his windpipe. He then swiftly cuts through knuckles oesophagus, closing it off and adding a small tube to drain liquids. 

All that remains keeping knuckles head attached to his body are his cervical vertebrae, finitevus grabs a large knife and simply slices between 4th and 5th vertebra, severing his head. 

Finitevus pushes the body away, attaching a baseplate of tungsten carbide and streching the remaining skin over it, anchoring it and attaching a second plate , welding them together with chaos power, creating a seal to prevent infection. 

Finitevus moves to the top of knuckles head, slowly lifting his dreads and tying them up above knuckles head.

Finitevus puts an oxygen mask on knuckles mouth.

Moving to the cell samples he gathered from knuckles, slowly growing long tentacle like limbs in a machine.starting each one on a petri dish. 

Finitevus looks at the stabilised decapitated head of knuckles and then at the paralysed body.

Finitevus flips over the body, running a hand down the spine to find the damaged vertebrae. He finds thoracic nerves 11 and 12 have been warped by the damaged vertebrae, he could move his legs but psychosomatic pain prevented him from doing so.

Finitevus flips the body back over, opening up the body, cracking the ribcage and removing it, throwing it in the bucket 

He studies the organs, studying the damage to them. How when the injury occurred a charge flowed through the echidnas body , damaging more than just the organ that allows a mobian to access chaos energies .  
He removes knuckles heart, studying the damage on it, how it likely would stop functioning if finitevus had not performed this operation 

Finitevus lifts out the intestines "oh dear it appears your spleen has been ruptured "

He grabs a handful of the mush that was the spleen and looks it over . Throwing it in the bucket. He pulls the lungs out of the chest cavity, uncovering the chaos organ. He looks at it, withered and dying, as he realizes that it's blood supply runs down the inside of the spinal cord and up the outside, when the vertebrae twisted it must have cut off the artery and deprived the organ of oxygenated blood . "How stupid of our biology, to put such an important artery in such a fragile place " he thinks back on how many times he's seen a mobian take a large impact on the back. . . "ah but the bones are stronger there... it might be the safest place, only to be damaged by twisting forces"

He cannot save the organ completely, but can transplant part of it into his head to retain some of his connection to the master emerald.

Finitevus opens the machine, on the large primary tendril he slices it open and trsnsplants the organ, watching as the tendril accepts it and integrates it.

Finitevus sighs, peeling off the gloves and throwing them in a bin. He walks over to the orb and starts creating ports in it for the tentacles to be able to poke through. 

The orb is fitted with a small amount of technology to reduce gravity for it and its inhabitants. He tests it , pushing it around the room as it floats. He returns it to the table, and sits down, waiting for the tentacles to near completion. 

His mind scans the city for any who would suit his needs, and only getting the inhabitants of the palace in return... 

He only opens his eyes when someone knocks on the medical room door.  
He turns to glance at them, seeing that it is sonic. "What is it? I am busy"

Sonic walks up to him, placing a paper bag on the table. 

Finitevus looks in the bag, finding the interesting stick of dried meat and herbs that he enjoyed when sonic dragged him through the city... he puts the bag back on the table "this doesn't make us friends... have you seen the little tails copies lately?"

Sonic raises an eyebrow "cub and Ginger? They told me they couldn't find what you wanted, and were too scared to say so to your face"

Finitevus waves a hand "tell them that the object is no longer vital to the operation as the item it was to replace wasn't as damaged as initially assumed "

Sonic nods swiftly leaving the room. 

Dr finitevus takes one of the snacks, slowly nibbling it while he meditates.

Hours pass, and finitevus only opens his eyes when he realises he has eaten all of the meat sticks that were given to him. 

Finitevus stands up, his communicator beeping slightly. He glances at the loud device, seeing that tails has sent him the orbiting paths of the chaos emeralds 

Finitevus grins, throwing out four rings and smiling as the emeralds fly out of them.

A loud cracking sound can be heard as the other three materialise in the room. Finitevus carefully watches them before pushing them into a pile and standing back, on his communicator he noticed a camera function he presses it, aiming the crosshairs at the chaos emeralds and taking a picture. 

He looks at the slightly blurry picture and presses on the share button, sending it to tails and boom knuckles 

He sits back watching the tentacles slowly grow , finding the chair he is sat on spins.

He glances at the door, assured that nobody is watching. He slowly pushes himself away from the table, sitting on the seat and spinning slightly. He tests whether his power has fully reurned, calling each of the chaos emeralds to his hand in turn. Looking at the cracks running through the gems.

He glances over his communicator as tails is typing a reply. A small notification sound signifies the response  
"Are those real? On my way"  
Boom knuckles sends a reply "on way 👍💎"

Finitevus quickly moves his chair back to the table, glaring quickly at the camera in the room.  
He pushes the orb around absentmindedly as tails and boom knuckles open the doors to the medical room, tails glances at knuckles decapitated head with all sorts of tubing and machinery into it , and the dismembered, and disemboweled body on the table 

Tails feels slightly unnerved by how the albino echidna in front of him was so willing to do such things. Tails looks at the chaos emeralds "how did you get them"  
Tails picks one up, looking it over 

Finitevus folds his arms, closing his eyes "it was easy, you gave me their orbiting path, i can effortlessly create portals "

Tails nods "mephilis said that he couldn't open portals fast enough to catch them all "

Finitevus chuckles "don't tell me that the god can't open more than one portal at a time?"

Tails scratches the back of his head "he can... but they require a frame to remain stable"

Finitevus huffs slightly "my warp rings function as the frame, its only sensible "

Boom knuckles looks at the decapitated head of knuckles, watching the vitals monitor as it checks the brain function of the bodyless echidna "is he"

Finitevus finishes the other echidnas sentence "alive? Yes... his body was beyond saving unfortunately, i will have to create a new one"

Boom knuckles looks at the dissected body "did you have to..."

Dr finitevus chuckles "perform a biopsy? Yes i had to study his injuries "

Knuckles sighs "tails we should get the emeralds up to angel island and try and heal the master emerald "

Tails picks them up in his arms "thanks finitevus... im glad you did this for us"

As they leave dr finitevus turns back to the orb speaking quietly "i need the master emerald fully functional for my plans, if you are indentured to me because of it... even better "

Finitevus leans back on the chair,patiently waiting , the machine dings slightly, prompting him to flip the lever slowing its processes and activating the second step.

Finitevus sighs, leaning back on the chair, closing his eyes


	10. A new hope

Dr finitevus opens his eyes, checking the time. "Six hours... sufficient sleep for now"

He glances at the machine, watching the timer tick down to one and the machine beep.

Finitevus grins "oh now the fun begins "  
He walks over to knuckles, carefully slicing under each of his dreads and then around, removing the skin from the top of his head. 

He carefully slices through the top of knuckles skull, attaching implants directly to knuckles brain. He drills holes in the skull for the cables to stick through, and carefully places the skull back on .

Finitevus picks up the main tentacle, attaching two cables to it, pushing chaos magic into the limb attaching it.

Finitevus arranges the other six tentacles symmetrically where knuckles dreads were.

He sews , using degradable threads, the skin he removed from the top of knuckles head back onto his skull.  
Once the skin is reattached he attatches a metal plate on top, with several ports in it into the skin and bone below.

He transfers knuckles head to the orb, with each of the tentacles sticking out of it. 

As he removes the oxygen mask he pushes magic into knuckles to wake him up. Allowing the front portion of the orb to open for knuckles to drink, and after it is processed by his magic, to be drained from the machinery. 

Knuckles can exist outside of the orb, but the orb can hover which would be beneficial for knuckles to manoeuvre himself. 

The final touch is to add 3 of each of the curved claws silver made, to the tips of each tentacle... excluding the large tentacle at the back

Knuckles slowly wakes up trying to move his hands but seeming shocked when he can't feel them, he doesn't have the same feeling of numbness and paralysis as his previous state yet he feels like he has lost more body movement.

He opens his eyes to find his head under a dome of glass.

"What the-"

He pushes his body up effortlessly levitating above the bed he was in he looks at operating table near him, scanning up and down the familiar red mobian decapitated in front of him.

He quickly looks at his own form in a mirror beside him.

He sees a glass orb with red and white tentacles protruding from the orb.

His head seems to be resting in the air of his glass exterior.

"Unfortunately your body could not be saved" stated the albino echidna from behind him.

Knuckles goes to say something, but is interrupted by finitevus lifting one of the dangling tentacles.  
Finitevus looks at it, carefully pinching the skin near the tip "can you feel this?"  
Knuckles huffs "yes"

Finitevus moves to each of the tentacles doing the same. Before smiling "ah good your brain has already connected with your new limbs . It may take a while to gain full control of them, however you should be able to move them "

Knuckles lowers himself slightly, feeling the floor on his limp tentacles "how?"

Finitevus chuckles "they are part of you, your brain should figure it out quickly "

He tries thinking of one moving slightly and to his surprise it does so, actions clumsy like that of a toddler. 

Finitevus grins "i will advise you not to eat or drink, however it should be converted to chaos energy and not collect in your systems... if liquid does collect in your system it will drain out the bottom of the orb"

Knuckles carefully lifts off the floor, positioning the tentacles beneath him and slowly lowering himself, tentacles cushioning the orb from the floor "i suppose it should feel more natural as time goes on "

Finitevus puts an arm out "shall we head up to the master emerald, it should help your body adjust "

Knuckles pushes off the floor, slowly wrapping the large tentacle at the back of his head around finitevus' arm and carefully letting finitevus drag him through a warp ring.

One on angel island knuckles gasps slightly "id forgotten how... strong the presence of the master emerald is... and I was losing it...."

Finitevus moves his arm close to the emerald for knuckles to sit on it. Knuckles curls his tentacles beneath him with two hanging off the edge. 

Finitevus sits on a small section of fallen pillar, bringing his legs up to sit cross legged 

Knuckles sighs, feeling the presence of the master emerald, then notices the cracks running through it are reduced "it is healing... have the chaos emeralds returned?"

Finitevus nods "i retrieved them , in order for the master emerald to be healed"

Knuckles moves his tentacles absentmindedly "you're searching for something, i can feel your power through the master emerald "

Finitevus sighs "i am searching for a suitable candidate for my project... but there seems to be none... i am attempting to search neighbouring dimensions but as usual ......nothing "

Knuckles hums "the voidking had vowed to kill us all , i will help you with your project, i do owe you my life"

Finitevus nods slightly, feeling faint all of a sudden, his body coursing with an impending sense of doom.  
He looks at knuckles "ah do you mind if i quickly do something "  
Knuckles chuckles "not at all finitevus , take as long as you need, ill be here"

Finitevus quickly enters his room, clutching his chest slightly as he coughs up thick black liquid. He glances at his half closed door, thinking for a moment that he sees something out there, but chalks it up to the void

He glances behind him, as an echidna he recognises laughs at him .

Lien-da laughs "three days until the void reclaims your body, are those souls you sacrificed worth it? Your desperation to recreate enerjak so necessary for you to cross our leader and go to these mortals for help "

Finitevus, between coughs manages to speak "he must be stopped- even my own plans are- part of some- something bigger"

Lien-da chuckles, walking up to dr finitevus "your body is dying, the voidking awaits your return, and he has quite the punishment for you. And you have the rest of eternity to enjoy it "

Finitevus growls "my body will sustain me yet, youll see ill have that fox dead before I return "

Iien-da fades away as finitevus recovers from the coughing fit. 

He huffs "each day without the suitable candidate... brings me closer to an eternity of torture " he sees something move in the corridor outside his room. 

He walks to his door, but whoever it was os gone. He washes his face, looking at how his fur seems to have somehow witened , before sighing and returning to the master emerald. 

\----

Scourge walks up to sonic "sonic... i overheard something...worrying "  
Sonic smiles, accessing the memory effortlessly and watching it "fuck... three days?"  
Scourge nods "and ive had a thought, you know how you said he needs someone proficient in chaos and who understands his ideals... why not use himself as enerjak "

Sonic thinks "good idea, we have to make a team, get resources quickly enough "

Sonic quickly types a message to blue,boom knuckles, tails, silver, and mephilis. 

He gets quick replies and nods "scourge you know what you need to get" 

Scourge nods, running off to his room, grabbing an anarchy beryl and returning it. Boom knuckles nods at him as they walk back into the hangout room. 

Blue enters, looking at sonic who waits for all he messaged to arrive before playing scourges memory on the screen.

Everyone gasps slightly, watching finitevus cough up black liquid and listening to what lien-da says to him.

Blue growls slightly, not wanting to trust the scientist... but admitting to himself that the echidna already has assisted the team a lot 

Everyone looks at sonic after the memory ends "so what do we do "

Scourge steps forward "we help him become a god, help him become enerjak "

Blue nods "my siblings dimension had chaos emeralds they said were so strong that they could turn people to gods "  
Sonic nods "retrieve one if you can "  
Mephilis opens a portal to the dimension as blue runs , helping him through. 

Boom knuckles nods "he can use power from the master emerald, he helped heal it after all "

Tails looks at the window "he can use the power from the city, its stored in artificial chaos batteries so it might work "

Mephilis nods "i will retrieve the chaos crystals from the old echidna city"

Sonic nods "and we'll meet back here when done, in preparation, ive got to grab the stuff for his project and change them to match his colour scheme "

Scourge nods in agreement, "i can remove the gold plating from the headpiece and faceguard to leave the black metal exposed, and have gold as the highlights... use some rubies or pyrope to highlights. "

Sonic smiles "get iblis to shift the gems to shape"

Scourge nods "ask zonic to alter the chestpiece to suit him "

Sonic nods running off , and scourge runs after. 

They sneak into dr finitevus room , looking at the black liquid drying onto the sink and floor and the enerjak mantle on the table in the corner.  
Scourge chuckles "the golds not even on it yet, i can do it easier"

Sonic nods, grabbing the chestpiece and the two head quickly down to zonics room. 

Zonic is waiting for them "i know what you're going to ask... and the answer is ,sure ill alter the chestpiece... but in return i want you to take responsibility for anything that happens"

Scourge huffs "fine whatever, how quickly can you get it done?"

Zonic smiles "an hour ... i know exactly how to change it"

Sonic nods running out to his room to hide the mask 

Scourge nods at him as they walk back into the hangout room, flicking on the tv.

Scourge jumps over the back of the couch ,laying down on the cushions. Sonic grabs two cans of chaos soda and throwing one to scourge 

Scourge looks at the can "chaos soda? Isn't that what shadow has that advertising gig with?"

Sonic chuckles "they have a new flavour out , chaos blue , it's like strawberry and vanilla flavoured or something "

Scourge opens the can, pale foam bubbles out the opening , scourge sucks up the foam. "Fuck, that tastes nice. "

Shadow walks into the room, grabbing a can out of the case and sitting next to sonic "like the new flavour, i got the first case as part of the deal"

Sonic leans back "how much do you get from the deal?"

Shadow chuckles "4000 credits up front for each shoot, 50 credits a day for as long as they use my face for their products. Plus first case of any new flavours they make" he sips from the can "fuck that is a good flavour mix"

Blue runs into the room "got one... may have pissed off another dimensions knuckles by grabbing it but i did it" he sounds out of breath .

Shadow chuckles slightly"grab a drink "

Blue grabs a drink and sits on the arm of the sofa, showing the stolen green chaos emerald to sonic .

Sonic gently takes it "fuck thats powerful, and big. Was expecting something like the chaos emeralds here but its more like a small master emerald "

Blue shrugs slightly "its one of two... so they're not particularly happy with my using it"

Sonic nods "ill hide it in my room till everything is ready " he gets up, putting his drink on the table before running out. 

Blue nods, leaning back slightly "its getting colder, ughh i hate spending my mornings trying to warm up"  
Scourge glances up at the news, some arctic fox is doing the report, wearing a shimmering black jumpsuit. 

She gestures at the map of the continent on the screen behind her , speaking of the weather system "as usual for this time of year, it is getting colder, our usual western wind has shifted to a northerly wind. The wind is shifting the area of high pressure , that has given us unusually warm weather for the last few weeks,from nearby our city as the cold front shifts down. Moving through the week, a warm front shifts up from the west, bringing heavy rains and overcast skies .

The warm front will linger over the mountains before being forced south by a second cold front from the north. "

The map shifts to one showing temperature 

The fox gestures at it "at the start of the week, whilst still protected from the area of high pressure, we can expect highs of 30⁰c and lows of 12⁰c

As we move through the week temperatures will drop rapidly as the cold front moves in  
Wednesday we can expect highs of 12⁰c and lows in the single digits. 

As we near the weekend the temperature will continue to fall into the single digits, bringing with it a likelihood of frozen streets and ice-rain . We will keep you updated throughout the week. Back to the studio "

Scourge groans , "i hate the cold "

Zonic walks in "weren't you the one who took us to the mountains to play in the snow "

Scourge chuckles "its different when I go to it willingly... but its coming to us instead... i hate waking up cold"

Zonic sighs "yeah... im just glad the no-zone had no major weather systems..."

Shadow gestures to the cans "help yourself to a drink.

Zonic grabs one, sitting on the other arm of the sofa, as sonic walks back in and sits in the middle. 

They watch the rest of the news, 

A finely dressed news anchor makes a show of straightening papers  
"Welcome to the news at 8, today's headlines. 

With the welcoming of the lost city into our society, there are calls to search the planet for other pockets of mobian civilisation. 

Tensions rise between our kind and the humans, as repeated diplomatic attempts end with violence, are the humans beyond reason? 

With the rise in cybernetics amongst our citizens, heres how can you ensure youre getting high quality parts.

And in light of the death of magmobian Arevai Chrysoprase , join us as we ask the people who are voting for our new god.

All this and more in the news at 10. We will return to the regularly scheduled programmes "

Mephilis portals into the room carrying an armful of chaos crystals "hiding them in your room sonic"

Sonic nods as mephilis runs off.

They look back to the tv, sonic bursts out laughing "guess you're not the only one who sold their face for a company "

On the tv is an advertisement for fur conditioner , and none other than tails is the model. 

Shadow chuckles "you gotta admit he looks good "

Sonic nods, hearing the distinct footsteps of dr finitevus approaching the room . His footsteps muffled slightly by the wrapping.

Finitevus huffs as he enters the room looking at the hedgehogs relaxing watching tv.

Sonic glances at him "tv says that a its gonna get cold. Don't catch a chill being up on your temple "

Finitevus growls slightly, grabbing a can of chaos soda from the case before sitting away from everyone. 

Sonic chuckles slightly, standing up "fini you can have my seat"

Finitevus growls loudly "how many times do I have to tell you, do not shorten my name "  
He moves into the seat anyway 

Sonic chuckles laying across shadow,finitevus and scourges laps. Finitevus growls but otherwise doesn't react 

Tails walks in "powers ready" then quickly walks out.

Sonic chuckles, everything is ready now.  
Scourge chuckles slightly, waiting for sonic to say his line.

Sonic looks at finitevus, making eye contact "so... we've been thinking. You said you need someone who is powerful in chaos and understands your ideals"

Finitevus huffs "i need not repeat myself then"

Scourge chuckles "we think we know the perfect candidate, hes powerful in chaos, understands your ideals perfectly, and is even an echidna "

Finitevus chuckles slightly "if this person exists i would have found them by now "

Zonic sighs "yeah I hope you know him"

Finitevus raises an eyebrow "i know him?... who is he"

Scourge facepalms slightly "its you fini, and we've got everything ready for whenever you want to do it"

Finitevus thinks slightly "... using myself for the project... i hadn't considered it... what have you prepared?"

Sonic chuckles "you'll see, head up to your temple, we'll meet you up there"

Sonic rolls off of their laps running off to get the objects. Zonic, scourge,shadow and blue follow him... leaving finitevus alone in the hangout room. 

Finitevus blankly stares for a moment, processing everything that just happened.  
He stands up, not using a warp ring for one, simply taking the stairs. 

He walks over to his temple, seeing a large cable on the floor, a circle of chaos crystals arranged on the crescent pedestal in the centre of the temple. On the inside of the circle scourge places an anarchy beryl, and blue places the large chaos emerald. Zonic puts the modified enerjak mantle on the floor next to the circle . Boom knuckles gives a thumbs up from the island above. 

Sonic chuckles at finitevus "step into the circle, we're gonna push all chaos energy we can spare at you... and some we can't spare"

Finitevus tentatively steps into the circle, feeling the large amount of chaos power around him. Tails nods, counting down "three.. two ... one... active"  
He pulls a lever, and prays for the best


	11. Enerjak Reborn

A large cracking sound echoes through the city, as the cities entire stored electricity arcs from the cable into finitevus. Its lime green power crackling across his body. Boom knuckles nods at knuckles. They move to opposite sides of the master emerald, in sync speaking "the servers are the seven chaos "  
Dr Finitevus cries out in pain as the chaos energy rips through him.

Boom knuckles and knuckles continue  
"Chaos is power, enriched by the heart.... the controller serves to unify the chaos"

The master emerald glows, drawing a green power into itself as finitevus takes the negative chaos energy. 

Lights across the city flicker as the power is drained out of the chaos batteries. Tails pushes the lever back, disconnecting the cable.

Finitevus is lit with a black glow. His body stiff with the power coursing through it. The chaos crystals fade to grey, the power drained from them.

Finitevus screeches as the black glow around him brightens, absorbing all the power into himself. 

Knuckles peeks over the edge of angel island, watching as finitevus takes all the energy into his body. 

Eventually the light fades and finitevus collapses onto the floor. He quickly gets up , looking at his hands, and then at the jackal-like mask . He seems to have become slightly taller, and his claws sharper. Sonic assumes there are likely other small changes hidden by the echidnas fur.

He nods at scourge and sonic, his golden eyes making eye contact with sonics green"i believe it worked..."

Sonic cautiously approaches him "well welcome to the immortals club... wish we had a club jacket or handshake but all we have is the certainty that we'll outlive everyone except eachother "

Finitevus shrugs "i will go..."he grins maliciously "practice my power ... if i return then you will know that it has worked " he puts on the mantle. 

The jackal head matching his colour scheme perfectly. The chestpiece has been altered to become minimalist, and tainted black with corrupt chaos energy. 

The only colour are red fire opals on the chestpiece finitevus smiles slightly, disappearing in a flash of black.

...

Knuckles looks back at the master emerald, noting that its still brightly glowing green.

He hovers closer to it, moving a tendril to touch it... finding the cracks are healed fully. "The purified chaos energy healed it fully... "

Boom knuckles nods "i knew trusting him was a good idea "

Knuckles sighs "i don't exactly trust the guy... but he did supposedly save my life"

everyone slowly heads back inside , sitting down in the hangout room 

Sonic looks at knuckles, who has perched on a barstool, wrapping his tentacles around the legs.  
"Finitevus deserves a second chance, he has a attitude problem though... however lets not give him the chance to turn against us "

"Like always im 5 steps ahead of you sonic." Spoke a smirking Tails.

Boom Knuckles growls "what are you saying fox"

"Finitevus is arrogant, and now he's far more powerful than ever. If we left him alone he could wipe out the city, sooo me and Eggman has designed a... safety protocol."

Eggman laughs "ho ho a blaster filled with positive chaos energy, a blast that can neutralise any entity enriched by negative chaos. With one shot every atom inside him would start fighting eachother, within minutes he would be dust."

Shadow grins "Perfect, i'll take the shot should ever the-"

"COWARDS!, plotting the death of our new friend. He saved my life!" Knuckles shouts

Shadows grin turns sour "c'mon knuckles don't be a fool. He only told you your life was ending so he could take your body for research and gain our trust"

"Hmph I would never be fooled like that!" Knuckles retaliates looking to his friends around him for support.

Everyone looks away.

"Hell he even created your body, you could be a spy, relaying all of this information to finitevus as we speak" growled Shadow.

"Wha- no shut up Shadow" Knuckles absent mindedly grips a knife.

"We do need to use him though, he has to kill the void king. We should keep our weapon quiet" said Tails.

"Finitevus is a fool, his pretentious character won't even let him know what hit him" shadow smirks 

Boom Knuckles squirms in the idea "but if we kill him this way, will he even be able to go to an after life?" He asks.

Scourge shrugs "you know how he's alive now right, by sacrificing souls. After that he has to earn the right to an afterlife"

Knuckles grips the knife harder.

"Knuckles calm down, none of us want to kill our new friend, but if he becomes a threat" Eggman says reassuringly.

"..."

Knuckles cracks, everyone is now threatening one of his own with murder. An upstanding Echidna with the power to solve all of their problems. An echidna that saved his life and saved the master emerald. Why could he not argue with them? Convince them of the truth!

Without even thinking he snaps throwing the knife with full power.

Everyone watches with shock, not even reacting.

The knife flies straight at Eggmans chest piercing through his coat before Sonic speeds forward to grab the knife before it pierces fully into his chest and into his heart.

Meanwhile Shadow speeds towards Knuckles restraing him against the floor.

"You ok Egghead?" said Sonic throwing the knife to the floor.

That question depended. Physically he was fine but emotionally he was traumatised.

"Well yes I think so. Knuckles what was that!"

Knuckles looks just as shocked "I don't know, I'm sorry"

"Could be finitevus trying to take 'The Doctors' life before creating such a weapon" stated Shadow.

"I predict it's just Knuckles going crazy. he's always had anger issues, even more with his old age" said Tails checking Eggman over for serious wounds. "We can patch you up easy"

Silver runs over, hands glowing with healing magic . Healing the small wound on his chest.

Knuckles curls his tentacles, as shadow glares at him.

Mephilis can feel Solaris bristling with excitement. Hearing his brother laugh with glee , and whispering into his mind "ah a potential fight with finitevus...enerjak... finijak if you will. That is new . I feel my mind getting clouded ...we're close, we have to be. Soon the world will be destroyed or the cycle in its place. "

The tv flicks on with a broadcast, tails quickly checks its location, seemingly originating from the human city. 

The camera flickers on. And everyone watches as finitevus is holding a human, who is dressed in some form of military uniform , presumably the humans leader.

Finitevus grins at the camera "hello humans, you might remember me. How i wished to form a trade agreement with you, extending my olive branch to you. And in return you filled my body with bullets, forcing me to find other sources for my needs... you have forced my hand, now that I have achieved godlike power i could wipe you from this world... but i like to get my hands dirty."  
He pushes his hand through the spine of the human and out through the chest, grabbing the humans heart and ripping it from his body. 

Finitevus growls loudly "you humans will regret not allying with us mobians. "

The camera flickers off for a second and finitevus is gone. Humans seem to run into the room and panic as their leader dies, bleeding out over the floor. The camera signal gets cut and the tv returns to its inactive state.

Ginger gasps slightly "did he...just..."

Tails sighs "for everyone to see"

The room is filled with a flash of black. , finitevus appears and flops backwards onto the couch. He sighs ,taking off the enerjak mask and placing it on the coffee table. 

Finitevus grins streching slightly "i hope those humans have learned that an alliance with us would definitely be beneficial for them"

Shadow raises an eyebrow, not trusting the echidna "us?"

Finitevus summons a can of chaos soda from the case, "yes, us. I vowed to assist you in fighting the voidking and that makes us allies."

Shadow growls slightly "but you'll kill us as soon as he's dead wont you "

Finitevus huffs, sipping his drink "Solaris has opened my eyes, my ideals can wait until his project is complete "

Shadow sighs "fine. And then "

Finitevus hums "we will see if your city is pure, when the time comes "

Sonic sits on the arm of the couch "sure we can't change your mind "

Finitevus exhales slightly " i have not decided whether the corruption of your city is acceptable or not "

Finitevus sighs, placing his empty can on the coffee table. 

Knuckles looks over at finitevus, sighing slightly before turning to tails and glaring at him.

Chuck smiles at finitevus, walking over to the chessboard in the corner "finitevus, do you know how to play chess?"

Finitevus sits up, looking over at the elderly hedgehog "of course i do, are you challenging me"

Chuck smiles "a friendly game of course "

Finitevus stands up, walking over to the chessboard and sitting down on the black side.

Chuck sits on the white, moving first 

Shadow sighs from across the room "well there goes tonight's party plans"

Scourge chuckles " when the party starts uncle Chuck will leave. Fini has the choice to leave when we start"

Sonic sits up on the counter " look at them, think Chuck's finally got another guy his age to chat with "

Scourge shrugs "blue, how olds chuck?"

Blue thinks slightly "70 ish why?"

Sonic huffs slightly "really? He doesn't look a day over 50... how olds finitevus, its hard to tell with him scowling at us the whole time "

Scourge glances over, "no clue but he's younger than he looks"

Sonic hums , "id say he looks mid 40s... "

Scourge chuckles slightly "so he'd be mid 30's"

Sonic tuts "30's he's too uhh...wise , to be that young "

Dr finitevus chuckles from across the room "i can hear you, if you must know... im 33"

Shadow chuckles slightly as sonic splutters .

Finitevus glances over at sonic who is laughing on the floor, and smiles before returning to his chess game. 

Sonic gets back up, speak-whispering to the hedgehogs around him "33!? Fucking hell he's young enough to be my dad "

Blue streches "jules wasn't as young as you would have thought. Chuck used to say he was like 50 something "

Scourge chuckles "older than my dad got then, late 40s when i finally snapped... and y'know.. " he frowns slightly 

Sonic puts a hand on scourges shoulder "wanna start preparing for the party "

Scourge grins, teeth glinting in the light "fuck yeah, get the drinks"

Sonic runs to get some drinks from the fridge, looking over to finitevus and chuck.  
Chuck grins at the echidna," checkmate"

Finitevus frowns slightly before grinning back at him "interesting, i hadn't predicted that you would win, rematch?"

Chuck nods, smiling "certainly my friend "

Finitevus hands Chuck's pieces back to him and carefully takes his own in return. 

Finitevus nods at the elderly hedgehog and waits for him to make his move. 

Antoine carries a case of alcohol into the room , Chuck sighs "let us finish our game before you guys start partying "

Cub and Ginger quickly leave the room, they are far too young to participate . 

Sonic leans back slightly chugging his drink.

Finitevus chuckles loudly from across the room . Chuck chuckles in response, sonic tries to overhear the conversation. 

Chuck nods at finitevus, "a fellow scientist, i can respect that "

Finitevus smiles "i was numb to chaos energy before my creation malfunctioned of course, i had built a chaos siphon suit to restore my dimensions knuckles to a normal state . Instead it made him more powerful , and pushing negative chaos energy into me."

Chuck nods "i can relate to my best experiments backfiring. I designed and built the first robotisiser, but it originally removed the robians free will . I abandoned the project of course but my dimensions Robotnik took it to become Overlord of my dimension "

Finitevus nods "i can assume that Robotnik has been dealt with?"

Chuck nods slightly 

Finitevus grins "good, if he was still out there i would have dealt with him myself. " finitevus bows his head slightly in respect "it is nice to talk to someone who understands me, without needing to simplify things"

Chuck nods and smiles in a friendly manner "certainly finitevus, if you want i can show you how i build defence systems for the city , if you wish"

Finitevus smiles slightly "certainly, but another time perhaps? Im curious as to what one of these parties entails "

Chuck laughs slightly "ill be off then, i don't with to see my sonny boys in such acts"

Finitevus nods "it was nice talking with you my friend "

Chuck nods and leaves the room. 

Finitevus leans back on the chair, smirking slightly at blue .

Sonic checks that everyone is here in time for the party.

Scourge leans against the wall next to finitevus "you sure you don't want to leave, you know what our parties are like"

Finitevus nods, "i found that... such proclivities can be... enjoyable "

Scourge chuckles slightly "you just like seeing people beneath you "

Finitevus smile curls maliciously "of course, i enjoy people kneeling before me"

Sonic chuckles handing finitevus a drink. "Boom said he was bringing someone, he has made a friend , one of the echidnas who came to the city"

Finitevus chuckles slightly "i wonder if I know them"

Scourge snickers "i hope whoever it is knows our sorta party "


	12. A rousing game *

Finitevus takes off the chestpiece and places it next to the enerjak mask. 

He lays slightly on the couch, drinking from a bottle. Sonic nudges him to move his legs, but when finitevus only smirks at him he lays at the other end of the couch. 

Boom knuckles steps into the room, "hey i bought my friend, she apparently dated a version of me but she's up for the party"

A pink echidna waves at the room, one of her dreads cybernetic. Boom knuckles smiles at her as she looks around the room. 

Tails smiles back at her "hey, glad you could make it, you are?"

She bows her head slightly, smiling "julie-su, im excited to see what your nights of 'debauchery and alcohol ' are like"

Tails nods slightly "welcome, How do you know Boom Knux?"

She smiles "well he is the guardian, i wondered if he was like my knuckles, i gave him my communicator contact and we started chatting about what the brotherhood of guardians was like where i was, and he invited me to this party... don't worry i know what usually happens at these parties "

Tails nods "well, welcome to the party julie-su "

Julie-su looks around the room, realising exactly who is in the room. 

Finitevus makes eye contact "julie-su."  
She growls slightly "finitevus."

Finitevus smirks slightly , as julie-su glares at him .

Finitevus leans back slightly "you're not gonna forgive what I did to your knuckles are you "

She growls louder, finitevus huffs "scourge get her a drink if you don't mind, maybe she'll stop glaring at me "

Scourge smirks at the pink echidna and pushes a drink into her hand. 

Mephilis puts on music and walks over to finitevus. Finitevus takes the vape from mephilis, taking a long drag , breathing a cloud of pale pink out .  
Mephilis chuckles "you didn't want to last time?"

Finitevus inhales deeply "if im to engage in such activities im doing everything i can "

Mephilis chuckles slightly "hope julie-su is up for some fun "

The pink echidna looks at finitevus who leans back slightly, drinking from a can. 

Boom knuckles leads julie-su to one of the couches next to the main couch.

Sonic smiles at her "julie got anything you don't want to do? We wanna know your limits before the real party starts "

Julie-su thinks slightly "hey... im open for anything if you guys are" 

Scourge chuckles "what game we gonna play?"

Sonic shrugs slightly "truth or dares always fun, but better when the parties actually started "

Antoine stumbles over, already drunk "is iblis being part of the party"

Iblis laughs from across the room "im here, of course im partying "

Silver throws a can to iblis who puts it in his mouth, eating the can and the alcohol inside. 

Scourge shrugs "fuck it, truth or dare it is then"

Mephilis nods, laughing slightly "last time it felt more like drink or dare.

Sally,knuckles and blue walk into the room "sorry we're late, got held up with paperwork "

Scourge runs over handing them both drinks . And offering one to knuckles, who slowly takes it, opening the orb to take a sip. 

Julie-su looks uneasily at knuckles, his form reminding her of her worlds Dimitri. 

Knuckles moves to boom's shoulder carefully perching, he smiles at julie-su, holding out a tentacle to shake "hello julie, im the previous guardian. Im also knuckles as boom's probably told you. "

She nods, cautiously shaking hands with the tentacle"he did explain everything, its just unnerving that you look so alike the Dimitri of my dimension "

Finitevus chuckles slightly leaning back "what can you say, i have a style~" his voice purring slightly as it becomes obvious that the echidna is tipsy. 

Scourge looks around the room at who's here. Sonic, zonic,blue,Sally, Antoine, Bunnie, silver, tails, shadow, mephilis, iblis,finitevus, boom knuckles, knuckles, metal and julie-su. Quite a few people to entertain, he thinks in his head.  
"Any ideas for a warm up game?"

Metal leans back slightly "could play, most likely ... someone says something like, 'most likely to get arrested for public nudity' and then whoever gets pointed at drinks for the number of people pointing at them "

Finitevus smirks slightly "sounds fun, lets play"

Scourge nods, "julie goes first, "

She nods "most likely to get in a fight for no reason " everyone counts down from 3.

Sonic, scourge, tails, boom knuckles and iblis point at knuckles. 

Zonic, finitevus, mephilis ,sally and blue point at scourge 

Antoine, bunnie,shadow, metal and knuckles point at mephilis 

Scourge rolls his eyes, as he, knuckles and mephilis take 5 shots each.

Zonic cracks his joints and then smirks "who's most likely to fuck a married couple on their wedding night "

They count down from 3 , and everyone except julie-su points. 

Julie-su sighs "I don't really know you guys that well... i know the sonic and guys from my dimension but other than , ugh him ,over there i don't know what you're like" julie-su motions at finitevus 

Otherwise the fingers mostly point towards Silver.

The hedgehog feigns offense as he takes 11 shots.

The others sigh slightly. 

Scourge looks at julie "you don't know us too well, so we should move to something fun. Wagering bets"

Julie-su raises a brow "how do you mean?"

Scourge laughs "we'll go easy for the first round. I bet 3 drinks that Julie can't touch the ceiling before me."

Julie smirks "I accept"

The floor to the ceiling is atleast 13 feet, too high for the average mobian.

Scourge rolls into his quills laughing as he spindashes up the wall.

As his spikes dig into the vertical surfaces pushing himself up to the ceiling he finds an obstacle pushing him back.

Su had jumped onto the wall and pushed Scourge onto the floor and easily climbs the cabinets, backflipping to touch on the ceiling.

Scourge lands easily on the floor "fair, guess you win"

Scourge chugs his three drinks in quick succession. 

With a graceful flip to the floor and a small bow Julie-su giggles at Scourge.

Bunnie rabot claps her hands "holy cow suga' quite impressive,but can you beat me?"

Julie gives Bunnies large robotic arm a small inspection before agreeing.

"Any bet in mind?" Julie nods

Bunnie just responds by placing her elbow down on the table with her hand open.

"Arm wrestling wagering 3 drinks!"

Julie thinks about it and shakes her head uncharacteristically "counter wager, arm wrestling and 10 shots"

Bunnie laughs "you are a riot julie. Final offer 10 shots and loser wears one of Antoines spare fancy dresses... with nothing underneath that dress"

Antoine grumbles slightly "zey were supposed to be a secret mon cherie..."

Julie ignores the whining coyote "Deal!"

Julie places her own elbow down opposite to Bunnies own. She grips Bunnies robotic hand with her own pushing as hard as she can to win.

Metal scrapes on metal and motors make a grinding sound as the are both put at full power.

After a few seconds of realising that no progress is being made Julie realises she may have to play a little dirty.

Julie's arm is advanced echidna technology, whereas bunnies arm is only robotisised, if Bunnie is distracted she likely will lessen her force.

Julie smirks uncontrollably "hey Bunnie" her eyes scan down towards her breast " wardrobe malfunction"

Bunnie looks down quickly to check her outfit all the while Julie su twists her body to put her back muscles into her arm forcing the gullible rabbits hand to fall.

"Why the slimy- you cheated" stamped Bunnie in a huff.

"I'm sorry Bunnie but either I cheat or both our motors give out. I ain't buying a new arm for a bet and I definitely aint wearing any dress" justified Julie while also motioning her competitor to change.

She quickly drinks all of her shots and struggles to walk out of the room.

Sonic looks at the fun and decides he wants to join, he looks at Metal and he nods."shadow, mephilis we bet against you. 4 drinks that you won't beat us to the girls changing room of black kitten. Rules are no portals "

Mephilis grins "8 drinks, and no magic"

Sonic thinks slightly "10 drinks and the losers have to show off the goods"

Shadow nods "deal"

Sally rolls her eyes "we're only counting it if you are also first to bring back someones sexy underwear"

With that the 4 hedgehogs run off with Shadow dragging Mephilis.

Both teams arive at an alley behind the black kitten at the same time.

Mephilis walks into the front door while the 3 others look for sneaky ways in.

Mephilis pays a large amount of credits at the counter for a large amount of girls to give him a personal show in an attempt to distract the girls from his companions sneaking in.

Shadow scans all the windows for a way in, finding a single open window emitting a bright pink light that he crawls through.

Metal Sonic lifts his husband above the building, finding a vent entrance.

The hedgehogs seatch furiously for anything that looks like a changing room.

Shadow enters a full of mirrors, clothes and makeup. It also has an oblivious female badger and echidna making out on the floor.

Shadow had found the changing room, but now he needed some panties.

Shadow speeds around the room picking up a tossed aside skimpy pair of bras and pants and quickly escapes speeding back home.

Sonic watches Shadow leave threough the vents and bangs against the metal.

Shadow enters the hangout room holding up underwear in accomplishment.

Mephilis portals the rest of the hedgehogs back.

Sonic sighs "fair win , lemme have my drink" sonic chugs half the shots, giving the other 5 to metal.  
Metal drinks them , shifting slowly to his neo form. 

Sonic nuzzles metal, both their dicks getting erect.

Mephilis pushes out two tentacles, moving one to curl up each of their legs. Sonic purrs slightly his dick painfully erect.  
Metal looks at his husband, watching the translucent tentacle wrap around sonics dick. Sonic lets out a shuddery moan. And metal moans shortly after as the tentacle on his dick curls around the tip of his head.

Both Sonic and Metal cry out as shivers are sent up there spines from the warm velvety tentacles wrapped around their dicks.

Mephilis chuckles slightly, quickly dissipating the tentacles. 

Metal groans from the sudden loss of sensation.  
Sonic moans slightly, body needy for climax. 

Shadow laughs "you didn't think we'd let you cum would you "

When all but Sonic and Metal had settled down Sally called on Tails . But are distracted when Bunnie stumbles back in the room, wearing a long lilac dress. A metallic trim on the chestpiece, and pink roses on the chestpiece. The skirt of the dress seems slightly translucent.

Bunnie immediately trips over the hem , landing face first. 

Antoine chuckles slightly, watching her struggle. 

Silver chuckles watching as Antoine walks over and slaps her ass , before helping her up

Sally smirks " tails, bet you will moan first with a vibrator in you. 5 drinks"

Tails smirks, flicking an ear slightly "10 drinks"

Sally chuckles "deal, silver get the toys "

Silver chuckles, handing a vibrator to each of them. "You doubt that i already had some prepared "

Sally and tails lubericate the vibrators and slowly push them in 

Sally hadn't used this kind of vibrator before, it is a rabbit vibrator, she can allready feel it rubbing and vibrating her G-spot. She just layed on her back as the expensive vibrator takes control.

Tails was allready face down on the floor ass up, holding in the moans.

Sally knew she wasn't doing anybetter, the overstimulation was proving too much. The rabbit ears was tickling her clitoris while her g-spot was being vibrated. Her knees start completely trembling. Her stomach is rising without any control from herself.

She cought her breath when the vibrator increased in power.

Tails was shaking all over, barely holding back moans. His erection is, as Blue would say it, way past erect and a white fluid is allready leaking on to the floor.

Finitevus leans over to look at silver's phone as he controls the vibrators, finitevus pushes the slider up slightly, watching the reactions from the two. Before suddenly shutting off the vibrations.

Sally grinds her thighs together trying to get some friction, and tails rubs against the floor, whimpering slightly. 

Finitevus purrs, pushing the power back up to what it was before. Sally moans loudly and then covers her mouth . Tails glances over, glad to be able to stop holding his moan in , letting a long drawn out moan as he cums onto the floor. 

Tails collapses in his own mess splashing little amounts around the room.

Julie-su looks at finitevus "i challenge you to a fight, loser drinks 10 drinks"

Finitevus growls, smiling maliciously "that is a fun little idea. You know you will lose obviously"

Julie huffs "I do? You underestimate me!"

Tails shakes his head trying to be a responsible mobian, mostly because he just had the last responsible mobian chug 10 shots and she is now trying to rub herself on a pillar.

"Guys we can't fight in the hangout room- but I do have an idea" Tails explains cleaning himself off with a towel.

He passes each of them a quarter staff with a rubber end on each side.

"Have you ever played battle beam?" Tails asks.

Julie nods her head, having done this game in basic training.

"Essentially both of you will be on bar stools hitting eachother with this staff until one of you falls onto the floor" Tails explains."first person on the floor loses"

Finitevus huffs, jumping up onto a bar stool, beckoning to julie-su. 

Julie-su steps onto the other barstool .

Tails counts down "three two one. Fight"

Finitevus makes the first move, swinging the pole forward. Julie pushes the tip of her pole down, spinning it to push finitevus. 

Finitevus pushes his pole up knocking julie-su off.

Julie-su gets back up, growling between her teeth "rematch"

Finitevus shrugs "if you wanna drink 20 shots then sure. Why not do best of three and drink 30" he purrs 

Julie smirks "you'll be drunk before the morning old man "

Tails chuckles "three two one... fight"

Finitevus makes the first move , overconfident in his swing. Julie-su blocks the swing and easily pushes him off 

Finitevus huffs slightly, chuckling as he gets onto the stool again 

Tails nods "three two one... fight!"

Finitevus swings low, aiming for her legs .  
Julie jumps over the pole, swinging the end of her pole into finitevus hip  
Finitevus huffs slightly, swinging his pole into julie's side.

Julie smirks, pushing the pole against finitevus hip as he does the same for her.

Julie-su thinks of a way to distract finitevus to win . Finitevus shoves his pole into julie's stomach. Julie fake moans "ah harder~"  
Finitevus splutters slightly "what!?"  
Julie-su takes the opportunity to push finitevus off the stool.

Finitevus lays on the floor.

Tails lays down 30 shots on the table, 10 for Julie and the remaining 20 for Finitevus.

Julie picks up her drinks and chugs them with ease, clearly an experienced drinker.

Finitevus in contrast sits next to the table and sips at each one slowly.

By shot 5 he is already regretting his decision. 

By the 10th shot he feels the warm tingle of alcohol. 

And by the 20th it is obvious to everyone in the room that he is drunk.

He slowly stands up and stumbles over to the couch. Scourge chuckles slightly, sipping a beer "fini, enjoying yourself?"

Finitevus huffs out a laugh, raising an eyebrow walking over and sitting on the arm of the couch  
Scourge leans back slightly, eyeing up finitevus semi unsheathed dick.  
Scourge smirks, leaning to put his chin on finitevus thigh , exhaling onto it.

"What would you like?" Finitevus asks obliviously.

Scourge holds back a giggle as he orients himself to just lick the tip of his shaft.

Finitevus gives a slight gasp "wha- what do you think your doing. I am above this" he exclaims however his already hard dick tells a different story.

Scourge places his mouth over the shaft and start bobbing up and down expertly on him.

Finitevus grips his nails into the couch.

Thrusting up deep in the warm and moist mouth he moans.

"Are you enjoying yourself" Scourge asks.lifting his mouth from the dick to reposition himself 

Finitevus does not answer 

Scourge just sucks deeper and longer , finitevus' left hand moves from clutching the couch to gripping the quills on the back of scourges head. 

Scourges pace rapidly increases as he feels every muscle in Finitevus tense up. When he feels Finitevus' breaking point he lifts of off him allowing him to explode on there chests.

Scourge smirks dipping a finger in the cum caught in finitevus chest fur and licking it off his finger.

Finitevus attempts at storming off to the lavatory to clean himself but fails to walk without slamming into the door.  
Finitevus sighs teleporting back to the couch , cleaning himself can occur when his mind is functioning again. 

Scourge chuckles, leaning forward and booping him before laying down on the couch head on zonics lap.

Finitevus huffs slightly through his nose , glancing at scourge 

Bunnie chuckles, leaning to silver "hey is the magic still in place?"

Silver nods 

Bunnie looks over at boom knuckles who is tipsy, with his arm around julie-su 

Julie smiles slightly, blushing a little from watching the albino echidna in front of her covered in drying cum.

Finitevus glances at her, raising an eyebrow .  
He then looks at scourge and zonic cuddling and chuckles slightly.

Scourge smirks, flicking an ear "you're welcome to join us"  
Zonic sighs slightly "asif he-"  
Zonic is silenced by finitevus almost crushing him . Zonic tries to go look at him but finitevus growls softly "stay." Finitevus gently rests his head in the crook of zonics shoulder . And only a few moments pass before finitevus is asleep. 

Scourge chuckles "looks like we're stuck here now"

Zonic sighs, trying to sleep. Scourge softly pats finitevus head, chuckling as the very drunk albino echidna purrs softly. 

Sonic smiles, then glaces over at julie-su and boom cuddling . While chatting to knuckles .sonic listens in to the ongoing conversation. 

Knuckles perches on boom's shoulder, "so echidnas are supposed to have a soultouch?"

Julie-su chuckles slightly, cheeks tinted with a light blush "uhh, yeah. Its sorta a sixth sense that we got because our ancestors were too focused on science to reproduce. "

Knuckles sighs "of course I bet it only works with two echidnas "

Julie-su nods "yes"

Boom nods "im the only echidna i know of in my home dimension "

Knuckles nods "i was the only echidna here for a while "

Julie-su sighs "i wish you two had got a chance to see our great historic cities , before everything that happened... my version of you would have loved to meet over versions of him."

Knuckles nods slightly, placing a tentacle reassuringly on julie's shoulder. 

Julie sighs slightly, resting her forehead against the orb surrounding knuckles head . Boom puts an arm around julie-su. 

Julie chuckles slightly "but i came here for fun, not to reminisce "

Julie absent mindedly twirls one of knuckles tentacles around her finger, feeling the velvety soft skin and short fur on it.

Boom raises an eyebrow "what sort of fun do you have in mind~" 

Julie glances at finitevus "i know exactly what you guys consider fun around here"

Boom chuckles slightly "ah if you're sure... im not gonna say no to someone as beautiful as you "

Julie giggles, blushing slightly . Knuckles runs his tentacles down julie's body, slowly undoing her belt and removing it from her. Boom runs his hands down her back pulling her close, nuzzling her neck.

Julie slowly takes off her gloves, running her nails down boom's back . Listening to the stuttering moan emanating from his throat. 

Boom purrs slightly, "ah-h julie , are-"

Julie purrs "shut up, and fuck me"

Boom slowly undoes her top, slipping it off her. Moving his large hands to caress her breasts, he smiles at her, uncertain about how to proceed.

Julie-su smiles, pushing boom to sit on a chair and moving to straddle his legs. Boom leans back slightly, his dick erect between their bodies. 

Julie looks up at the taller echidna, moving so her wet hole is brushing tantalisingly close to the head of boom's dick.

Boom moans out , instinctively gripping her hips as she lowers herself onto his dick. The length pushing slightly against her tight walls, not uncomfortable yet noticeably larger than she expected. 

Boom slowly lifts her before lowering her again, acclimatising her to the length and girth of his cock.

Julie moans softly as she grips booms chest. Nodding for him to move her.

Boom nods, lifting and then lowering her. Increasing the pace as he feels her walls tighten around his dick.  
"J-julie you feel so good "  
Julie purrs out a moan in response. Tilting her head back as she rides boom knuckles dick.

Boom takes care not to grip her too hard as he feels warmth flow through him. JuliJulie loudly moans as she is filled with a large amount of cum.

Boom sighs contentedly, lifting her off so his softening dick slips out of her .

Julie chuckles slightly leaning her head against booms side, cuddling him

Boom cuddles her pulling her onto him , and they are the last in the room to fall asleep


	13. Operation Airship: Team tails

Sonic wakes up, streching his arms and legs before giving his wings a quick flap. He shivers "fuck its getting cold already"

The breeze from his wings wakes up scourge. Scourge groans , feeling a heavy weight on top of him, he opens his eyes looking at zonic cuddled against his side. "Awww... cute..., so who-" scourge smirks as finitevus groans, rubbing his cheek against scourges chest.  
Scourge chuckles slightly, moving a hand to scratch finitevus chin. "Look at you, ole evil von creepy, now well... i never thought you'd be cuddling up to me"

Scourge glances up as mephilis and iblis are cleaning up the room , his ear twitching as he hears knuckles hover over, helping them clean.

Zonic sighs in his sleep, nuzzling scourges neck, to which scourge smiles. 

Silver chuckles, sitting down on the arm of the sofa. "You and zonic should just make it official already "

Scourge huffs "nope, not happening ."

Silver rolls his eyes "and finitevus?"

Scourge chuckles patting finitevus on the head softly "well someone's gotta take the brunt of the old mans hangover, if you're volunteering "

Silver folds his arms slightly "nah im good, thought you hated him though..."

Scourge attempts a shrug "no place for hatred in this world is there. Plus he seems to get on well with uncle chuck, not gonna ruin that for them"

Silver places a hand on finitevus head , it briefly glows blue "there now you don't have to deal with his hangover "

Scourge huffs "he is warm though so ill keep him on for a while. "

Silver nods " ah , never effects me much, my dimension was so hot we evolved to not get groggy in the cold"

Scourge chuckles slightly "lucky you "

Shadow groans from across the room "mornin' anyone wanna coffee?"

Finitevus groans, slowly waking up "ughh tea..."  
Shadow nods slightly, putting down two cups one for his coffee and one for tea.

Finitevus sits up, before shivering and quickly laying back down. "Do you barbarians not have heaters?"

Tails sighs "we do, we weren't expecting the cold to set in this quickly . They're kicking in so it'll warm up soon "

Eggman and Chuck walk into the room. Eggman is wearing a warm faux-fur lined black suede jacket. And chuck is wearing a brown leather jacket lined with fleece material. 

Scourge moves slightly "g'morning uncle Chuck."  
Finitevus grumbles flattening himself against the warmth of scourge and zonics bodies. 

Chuck walks over and ruffles the top of scourges head "morning sonny green , that cold front sure came in fast last night. Hope none of you caught a chill"

Finitevus feels the building's heaters finally activate, he quickly moves to sit on the arm of the chair making sure that he is presentable and drinking his tea.  
He cleans himself with chaos energy, picking up the black enerjak mask and then sighing slightly. He puts the mask back down and grabs a blanket, walking over to boom and carefully putting the blanket over the large echidna. Julie-su goes to say something but a quick glare from finitevus shushes her. 

Finitevus walks over to the fridge, suddenly noticing that mephilis and iblis are still, like statues. He waves a hand in front of their eyes, which are beginning to glow gold. 

Finitevus huffs "sonic... do they do this often?"

Sonic runs over, nudging mephilis "oi mephilis... you there?"

Mephilis and iblis remain silent, even the ash floating from iblis is frozen in place. 

Sonic waves a hand in front of mephilis eyes, noting that there is no response.  
Shadow runs over "mephilis?! Are you okay?"

Mephilis eyes flicker slightly, his consciousness trying to fight back to the surface. But then the light retains its full brightness. 

They hear Solaris voice emanate from the two demigods, but instead of its usual collected and analytical tone , the god sounds frantic his words jumbled and barely coherent  
"7 is⁷7⁷7⁷7⁷. 7 chaos. Soon"

Sonic looks into the light "Solaris buddy, you fine in there?"

Silver runs over, catching iblis as he and his brother collapse to the floor. 

Mephilis groans, mumbling "7... 7........ 7.......7?"

Mephilis opens his eyes quickly, looking around.  
Shadow hugs mephilis hard "i ... are you okay?"

Mephilis looks at him strangely "im fine? What happened?"

Sonic stands back up "you were just chanting the number 7 ... is Solaris okay?"

Mephilis reaches out for Solaris in his mind "yeesh... uhh physically yes... mentally, I think something has happened "

Sonic nods "mind me trying something?"

Mephilis shrugs "go ahead"

Sonic places a hand on mephilis head, accessing Solaris through his mind using the void. Sonic pushes himself into mephilis mind , his physical form becoming transparent. Sonic looks around the crystalline architecture of mephilis mind, noting that every now and then blue flames creep through the corridors. 

Sonic looks up at the large pulsating orb in the upper centre of the room. He jumps up to the next floor, pushing with his wings to get an extra burst of jump height. 

Sonic looks around quickly as he hears a cracking sound around him, pulling himself close to a door as blue flames race down the corridor he was just standing in.

As the flames recede sonic quickly runs to the edge of this floor, "five to go until i can reach Solaris " he jumps up one floor, grabbing the edge and pushing off it, flapping his wings instinctively to get more height. He feels the air get drier as he neers the orb, looking up he can see a double helix pulsating up from the orb into the sky . Blue flame pulsating up one side, molten rock flowing down the other. Sonic realises that that must be the bridge between mephilis and iblis' minds . With half of Solaris in each of them. The mind of Solaris is here , its power across the bridge. 

Sonic clambers onto the floor where the orb hovers. Cautiously stepping towards the pulsating orb. He carefully places a hand on the orb feeling for Solaris. He opens his eyes to see a pulsating red eye staring back at him. "Solaris?"

The eye studies him closely, looking at the hand touching it and then watching Sonics face .

Sonic takes a deep breath of the dry air "Solaris buddy, i came here because im worried about you "

The glowing red pupil widens slightly, before narrowing, pushing its voice into sonics mind " you should have come through iblis mind? Its safer than here. Mephilis has all sorts of defenses in here"

Sonic shrugs slightly, "mephilis let me in, we were worried about you, did you mean to take control of their bodies "

The eye widens in shock "i ... oh ... i fear i am losing myself faster than expected "

Sonic raises an eyebrow "losing yourself?"

Solaris rolls his eye talking as if it were as natural as the weather"oh it happens near the end of every cycle, whether broken or not "

Sonic tilts his head slightly in confusion 

Solaris eye closes slowly "i slip closer and closer to insanity, i thought I could hold out until the voidking attacked... but i ... it speaks to me, the same thing over and over again... 7... all i hear when I close my eyes . "

Sonic lowers his head "if you need help, we're all here for you Solaris, 100% in with your plan "

Solaris chuckles, the eye opening, the pupil looking unstable "thank you- i... i will make sure to inform you of your tasks when it is time "

Sonic smiles, as Solaris eye closes , a ripple goes over the surface. "You should leave, my brothers mind is not a safe place for a mortal"

Sonic looks as a door appears next to him and opens. Sonic nods respectfully at Solaris and steps through. Opening his eyes up as he disconnects from mephilis mind.

Silver looks at him expectantly "so?"

Sonic shrugs "he says its a side effect of nearing the end of the cycle "

Silver huffs "well iblis hasn't woken up yet "

Mephilis huffs slightly "ill take care of my brother, you guys should start preparing for when the humans inevitably attack"

Sonic nods, "eggman, is final fortress back on the planet since the reset?"

Eggman nods "all the ships were reset ... but i can't access them remotely... i lost the access codes... we will have to go out and retrieve them manually "

Scourge chuckles "yeah sure , you gonna make teams?"

Eggman thinks slightly "each team needs someone who can handle technology... and they'll probably require 3 people at least to fly"

Eggman sits down, writing on paper " so ... tails, silver, Ginger and cub... finitevus i assume you can handle machinery "

Finitevus crosses his arms "of course I can "

Eggman nods "tails, sonic, metal and knuckles you are going for final fortress, i know you don't want to but without my access codes you're the only one who can disable the security. 

Silver, you're taking iblis and mephilis with you, they'll need to remove it from the sand at these coordinates so we can get it back here.

Ginger and cub, you two will have shadow and blue with you, heres the coordinates to the mk2 eggcarrier.

Finitevus, you will be taking scourge and zonic with you, heres the coordinates for yours. Please land them on the dunes north of the city so we can refit them for war "

Each of the team leaders checks the locators and heads out to retrieve the airships .

Tails nods at metal "don't worry we trust you, i know its hard going back there"

Metal huffs , shifting into his neo form "im fine, just reminds me to keep myself in check"  
Sonic hugs metal softly, nuzzling his husband's chest.

Metal sighs into his husband's quills "cmon lets get this over with "

Metal nods at tails as tails starts up his plane, knuckles gripping his seat uncomfortably and sonic perched on top.

Tails takes off flying towards the blip on his locator, and metal flies off after him.

Metal looks over the surprisingly intact titan of an airship. Watching as tails lands on the charred earth next to it. Metal drops next to the plane "no space inside for the plane "

Tails lifts knuckles from his chair "thats fine , it can fly itself back "

Sonic jumps off as the plane takes off again. 

Tails looks up at the decaying ship, metal sighs shuddering as he looks at the bridge of the ship and the destroyed antennae above it.

Metal scans the large crack in the hull in front of them "minimal radiation leaks, we're all fine on that front " metal leads the way his red optics lighting the corridor as his footsteps echo through the corridor. 

Sonic notes that despite the heavy damage to the ship , the corridor is clean and free from dust.

Metal places his hand on a scanner opening up a side room . He runs his hand along a wall, before pulling off a panel. "Tails reroute the power from the red wires to the yellow please "

Tails nods splicing the red wires onto the yellow and smiling as emergency lights activate in the ship. 

Metal slaps a monitor, letting it recconect afterwards, and then quickly deactivating all security and alarms "there, clean walk to the bridge, assuming the elevators work still "

Metal leads the way, ducking under collapsed ceiling sections with ease, "elevators broke, follow me"

Metal walks out of a doorway jumping quickly onto a rail and grinding up it to reach a large bridge section.

Metal jumps off , throttling his engine to give him an added boost of speed. 

Metal sighs slightly, looking at the main part of the ship in front of him.  
Sonic lands next to him , putting an arm around metal "baby... mets, you okay?"

Metal huffs shaking his head "lets continue, the sooner we get this-...damn.... i should have remembered... im the only person who can pilot this directly, its got a nanite interface... even if we get this back home im never free from its memory "

Sonic pulls metal close "i already forgave you for everything you did back then .. its time for you to forgive yourself "

Metal sighs "its not that easy... but lets just get this over with, you can fly right?"

Sonic scratches his quills awkwardly "uhh not very good unfortunately "

Metal grabs Sonics hand "hold tight my love"  
Sonic grasps Metals hand "uhh ok-aah!" Metal quickly flies up to the bridge. 

Metal laughs as sonic panics, flapping his wings instinctively "almost there my dear"

Metal carefully lowers sonic onto the corroded metal of the bridge, nodding at tails and knuckles who land next to him. 

Sonic growls slightly "well give me a warning next time mets."

Metal hugs sonic "sorry my dear, just wanted to get this over with "

Sonic sighs into his husband's arms "so how do we get in, looks sealed shut"

Metal releases his husband and walks over to the door, his arm turning a metallic silver as his hand seemingly melting into the door.

The door opens and Metals hand returns to a normal form, he streches his fingers before clenching his hand into a fist . Metal steps through the open door waiting in the doorway for the others to step through. 

Metal grins opening his hands as the electronic humm of the ship echoes through his audio receptors. His nanites vibrating excitedly asif the very material of his body remembers this place and the power he once had.  
Metal feels a warmth run through his circuits, his engine fan spinning slightly to cool a heat that isn't there.  
A recording plays from his database. 

{Mem-log #2887 d/t error.error.error... 17:00 }

{[WARNING] Audio for this log is corrupted, attempting to retrieve uncorrupted data }

{[CAUTION] the file you are attempting to play was recorded on a previous version of your OS }

File Playback. 

///

[ functionality 100% - data of ultimate lifeform recieved. -data of chao received . -data of all lifeforms received 

{Primary Objective}- neutralise sonic the hedgehog-[overridden]

[Current Objective] - destroy the fake sonic. And anyone who stands in my way.

"I am the real sonic, i know the faker will take my bait, hook line and sinker as [redacted] used to say. "

External Audio: [motion sensor 87 triggered]  
External Audio: [motion sensor 86 triggered]

"[Data corruption] {attempting Playback} ----comin...good...dispose of them with......e....emp..ror.."

External Audio:[motion sensor 65 triggered]

"[Data Corruption] {attempting Playback} "closer... clo...t..your....demise.....i.ha.....no...fear"

External audio:[data corruption]{attempting playback}[mo...sens...42...trigg...decoy...self.. distru...button....act..va.d.]..

End of Playback---

Tails waves a hand in front of Metals deactivated optics "metal? We need you to pilot this thing, don't deactivate now " his voice drawn out and urgent.

Metals optics flicker back on, red ovals narrowing slightly, wordlessly moving down the corridor, walking upstairs to the main control room of the airship.

Metal looks at the control panel, his hands clenching and unclenching. He strides over to the spiked throne-like pilot seat and sits in it, resting his hands on the smooth surface of the control panel. 

Metal lets his nanites activate the panel, main power activating. Metal lowers his head slightly, controlling the ship, a few loud bangs echo through the ship.

Sonic grabs a rail as the ship shakes unsteadily. Tails runs to grip a rail , and holds knuckles with his other arm.

Sonic feels the ships engines firing up , the ship groaning as its decaying hull slowly takes off into the air.

Sonic runs over to metal "mets, baby you okay?"

Metal sighs slightly, his nanites echoing his old mission in his mind. He makes a short beep, his old identity still in the ship, fighting him for control. 

OS-neo :{kill him, you don't need him you need your ship and you can wipe out those pitiful mobians}

OS-ms-beta[2] :{i love him... i can't }

OS-neo :{ his demise is your primary directive}

OS-ms-beta[2] :{false, my primary objective as stated by sonic in year [error: stack overflow] (you should do what everyone else does out here. Survive) }

OS-neo :{you don't deserve to wear my form}

[Caution]: OS-neo[admin] is deleting primary objective.  
[Caution]:failsafe code fr33d0m triggered. Entity who deletes primary objective has administrative functions disabled. 

OS-neo:{no!... you would silence your perfect self? A god among mortals, the perfect creation?}  
OS-ms-beta[2]:{you think yourself perfect? Yet you cannot feel... i am far superior to you}

Log- all data from previous Operating Systems moved to secure drive.

Metal comes back to reality . Hearing sonic shouting at tails, and tails shouting at sonic. 

And knuckles plugging holes, in the glass in front of him , with his tentacles ."you back with us metal sonic?"

Metal lifts his hands out of the nanites, "i... what happened? "

Knuckles chuckles slightly "you were in some sorta trance, you almost looked like...well you're back, do you think you can get us above the surface before the water gets in?"

Metal places his hands back on the control panel throttling the engines and finding one of the primary thrusters damaged. He listens in to tails and sonic arguing .

Sonic slams his foot on the floor , a slight splash on the floor alerts metal to the fact that water is now in the room. "If you could have done something we wouldn't be in this mess"

Tails shouts , pent up anger unleashing on sonic "I COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING? ME!? WITH HOW THE NANITES REWORKED ALL OF THE SHIP, and frankly the deterioration of it . HE'S YOUR HUSBAND, YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING "

Sonic growls , giving up on the fight, not wanting to argue with tails "lil bro look i-"

Tails growls in response, fur standing on end "YOU WHAT? YOU'RE SORRY? YOU'RE STUPID? YOU DECIDE A GREEN HEDGEHOG YOU MET A MONTH AGO IS BETTER THAN ME?"

Sonic lets out a small whimper, flattening his ears slightly before making eye contact with tails "tails.... miles you know you're always my little brother, no matter what. Back then you were always my best friend too, but me and scourge... we're both the same, we get eachother and neither of us are trying to show off to the other -"

Tails roars in rage, eyes glowing gold with his godlike power "ENOUGH! I THOUGHT THAT MAYBE YOU WERE GOING SOMEWHERE WITH THAT PATHETIC SPIEL" tails dashes forward, throwing sonic across the room. 

Tails looks at his hands "i... i ... what am i doing?"

Metal realizes whats happening "i -...Neo... who i was back then... presumebly saved a back-up copy of himself in the ships systems... thats how he got to me, trying to turn me against you.. and now he's trying to turn you two against eachother..."

Sonic groans , getting up from the floor , one of his wings sticking out at a weird angle. 

Tails sits down "how... he can't control our minds can he?"

Metal sighs, the shaking of the ship returning as the giant airship breaches the waters surface. "Oh no..... I had found a relic, or invention from a past time... eggman already had files on it and was making prototypes of it after he couldn't find it..."

Sonic streches his crumpled wing , wincing in pain . Knuckles slides off of the glass moving over to sonic and pushing healing magic into him.

Tails looks at metal "well what could have just made us do that "

Metal huffs slightly, contemplating "well he likely altered each of our individual realities to make us fight eachother "

Sonic huffs "so he showed us exactly what he thought would tick us off?"  
Tails looks at sonic "i ... i didn't mean to say any of that..."  
Sonic walks over, "miles i know you didn't... you know my friendship with scourge changes nothing between us"

Tails nods slightly "well... what relic could be altering reality?"

Metal lifts a hand from the control panel, waving a image onto the display "a peculiar gem, most scholars referred to it as the phantom ruby. It has a few interesting features that made it a desirable object for me to aquire back then..."

Sonic taps his foot on the puddle-strewn floor "such as?"

Metal chuckles "reality manipulation is the first one, draining chaos energy, bringing you your deepest desire... and it seemed to have the bizarre ability to revive destroyed robots, you can tell why i wanted it...... but as it was i never used it, and I thought it would have been destroyed by the downing of my fortress"

Sonic nods "so... if this precursor version of you is using it... then it means "

Sonic recognizes the voice echoing through the speakers.  
Neo laughs "it means i can do anything i want. Oh look at the newer model, he gave you my nanites it would seem... you may be wondering why he never destroyed me ...after he ripped me from my chassis and drained it of nanites i was discarded along with his other...defective...robots... "

The sealed doors by sonic and tails slowly open. Water remaining in the corridor trickles into the room. Sonic, tails and knuckles turn to look at the figure crawling over the threshold seemingly on several legs. none of the limbs seem to be from the same robot, and its body is a mishmash of half welded Fragments. The only recognisable part is the head . Fragments of previous metal sonic chassis have been welded together to form some grotesque version of neo metal's head. Its five points razor sharp and his optics, obviously from an earlier model, are dim yet still terrifying. 

The most striking thing of the grotesque robot in from of them is the pulsing megenta crystal , set recessed into the forehead of neo, thick shielding covering it.  
"After you stole my nanites, i was forced to rebuild my body yet again, from the scraps of my creators faliures, but i will not fail again. You may share my memories , BUT YOU DO NOT SHARE MY POWER"  
Neo lifts his arms , pulling the power of the phantom ruby to his hands and firing at knuckles. 

Knuckles drops from the air slightly before fading away in a burst of darkness. 

Neo cackles loudly as knuckles fades back into existence, his eyes wide and tearful. 

Sonic runs over, picking up his friend "knuckles, anything you saw in there it wasn't real"

Neo laughs "ah but it is oh so very real to him, that is the power of this relic."

Metal growls slightly, moving his hand to aim two turrets at neo. Neo continues laughing, his decades of solitude have only driven him further to insanity .  
Neo pulses his power through the limbs , electrifying the water-covered floor and shorting the turrets .

Sonic quickly jumps off the floor, flapping his wings slightly to hover in the large room, as tails spins his tails doing the same. 

Knuckles just floats there growling at neo.  
Knuckles flies forward, wrapping his tentacles around neos legs, knocking the robot to the floor. 

Sonic drops to the floor, angling his wings to push him into a ball ,dashing forward to spring out and kick neo . Sonics foot bounces uselessly off the mishmashed plating.

Neo tilts his head back, cackling "you are weak, and i am god"

Tails grins, fur glowing slightly "you're a god? Good then maybe you're on my level "  
Tails dashes forward, fur crackling with electricity, grabbing neo's head as knuckles releases his legs.  
Tails flips throwing neo across the control room.

Neo simply pushes his legs against the wall, scuttling forward, and firing a beam from his eyes at tails. 

Tails dodges the beam , which punches a large hole in the front window of the control room. 

Sonic grabs knuckles by a tentacle, and knuckles grabs tails hand, as the semi-pressurised cabin loses air. The air rushing out drags tails dangerously close to the window, and the icy cold air outside.  
Metal glances at him, pitching the airship down to decrease its altitude to just above the clouds.

Tails quickly spins his tails, propelling himself at neo. Neo scuttles next to the window. His 6 legs piercing the metallic plating forming the interior of the control room. 

Tails screeches, charging his fur with power as he shoots lightning at neo.

Neo jumps out of the window, grabbing sonic as he leaves. Sonic slams his hands on neo's chassis, in a futile attempt to get neo to release him. 

Metal reaches out with one hand, grabbing one of neo's legs, piloting the airship with his other hand. 

Neo shifts his weight, slamming a fist into Sonics stomach and his other back leg into Metals face.  
Neo growls at metal, kicking metal again "you may use my form but that doesn't stop you from being so pathetic. "

Tails flies out to the window, jumping onto neo's head and trying to pry off a loose plate. 

Knuckles hovers over, grabbing the leg aimed at Metals face and pulling it underneath neo's body. 

Neo simply walks forward, dragging everyone outside of the window. Metal lets go , returning to piloting the ship "can you handle him, ill focus on piloting this thing"

Tails nods "we got this, get this ship back in one piece "

Tails pulls neo out of the window, the strong airflow from the airships speed mixed with a oncoming wind , lifting them off the floor with each step.

Neo releases sonic to grab for knuckles, the wind catching Sonics wings and dragging him into the air.

Sonic looks at the ground beneath the clouds, looking at the jungle growing between valleys and cliffs, and up at the ship he was stood on. Muttering to himself "of all times to learn how to fly ... nows certainly the time" he spreads his wings, slowing his fall. He experimentally flaps his wings, instinct taking over, and shortly after he is hovering over neo.

Neo lifts some of what sonic presumed was loose plating. Sonic realises the loose plating was covering a double jet engine .

Neo grabs tails by his tails, clawed hands drawing blood . Tails whimpers slightly before clawing at neo's optics. Tails manages to get a finger between the optics and casing, pulling a cable out , grabbing the cable in his fist and deactivating one of neo's optics.

Neo quickly takes off, dragging tails by his tails, roaring in rage at the fox "you little pest, i shall teach you some manners " neo arcs in the air before diving down towards one of the sides of the titan airship 

Sonic puts a hand out for knuckles to wrap around, quickly pulling in his wings and following neo down. Neo fires beams behind him, hoping to hit them on the way down. 

Neo holds tails out as he effortlessly dives between structural beams , tails gets pushed into a beam . Tails' screams are silenced as he loses consciousness. Neo cackles dropping the unconscious fox and using the phantom ruby to phase into a different plane of existence. 

Sonic looks at tails, uselessly falling to the Jungle, and looks at knuckles. 

Knuckles looks at tails falling, moving to wrap his tentacles around Sonics torso and summoning the power from the master emerald. 

Knuckles sees the tips of his tentacles glow green "CHAOS CONTROL "

Sonic blinks as he is teleported to just below tails, sonic pulls tails close looking at the blood trickling from his head "thanks knux"

Sonic slowly opens his wings, slowing his fall to land safely on the forest floor. Sonic looks at his little brother, unconscious in his arms.

Knuckles springs off his back, pouncing on neo as neo portals behind sonic.

Sonic carefully puts tails down, punching neo in the face , wincing as his hand bounces uselessly off of the plating.

Neo laughs and slams knuckles to the floor, stamping on the orb, cracking the glass.

Sonic jumps on neo's back, prying open the thruster exhaust and shoving a twig in it.

Neo steps off of knuckles and throws sonic against a tree, knocking him out 

Neo rolls his optics "ive had my fun, until we meet again. I hear the humans need a living super-weapon... and a leader"

The ruby set into neos head glows, engulfing him in a magenta light. And as the light fades neo is gone.

Knuckles finds himself barely able to hover above the floor, reaching out and dragging tails over to sonic. Knuckles looks at his tentacles, the green glow at the tips glows brightly. He wraps his tentacles around his friends, letting power flow through him "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Knuckles closes his eyes as his vision turns green.


	14. Operation Airship: Team Silver

Mephilis opens a portal to the coordinates, silver hops onto a rusted bit of metal sticking up from the ground looking out to the harsh flat sand. 

Silver sits down on the sun-heated metal "so ships here somewhere?"

Mephilis nods, scanning the ground for the ship. And iblis doing the same. 

Silver thinks, jumping off then lifting up the bit of metal he was sat on. Underneath is a hatch "don't worry guys, i think this is it"

Mephilis runs over, prying open the rusted hatch.  
They peer down the dark shaft. "Iblis light"

Iblis walks over, jumping down the shaft, immuminating it and allowing them to safely descend. 

Silver looks at directions painted into the maintenance tunnels of the airships walkways. He brushes a layer of caked on sand off "this way... need to get power going first"

Silver leads the way, with iblis and mephilis close behind.  
They enter the decaying reactor room, sand appears to be pouring in slowly through rusted holes in the roof.

Iblis looks at the rusted holes spitting out a small ball of magma and sealing the roof again. Silver activates the console typing in access codes and powering up the main reactor, low lighting flickers on .

Silver sighs "ill get this up and running, do you mind clearing a way up to the bridge?"

Mephilis nods, running to portal sand out of the ship.

Silver looks at iblis "ibbs can you lift this ship from the sand?"

Iblis chuckles "can an imp fly, of course I can "  
Iblis sits down, focusing his power to shift the sand above and lift the ship to the surface. 

Silver cheers slightly "yes!" As the reactor fully activates and full power is restored to the ship. Then a turret aims and fires at silver "shit!"

Iblis quickly gets up, ripping the turret from the ceiling before any bullets hit silver .

Silver nods at iblis "thanks ibbs"

Iblis tilts his head slightly "you're shortening my name?"

Silver shrugs "yeah, i can stop if you wa-"

Iblis interrupts him by putting a warm hand over silver's mouth "no... i like it"

Iblis takes his hand away, giggling slightly 

Silver raises an eyebrow "whats funny?"

Iblis laughs "you have a handprint on your face "

Silver touches his cheek, feeling the soot before laughing . Their laughing is interrupted by a large golden twin armed jellyfish like robot entering the room . By the series number painted on its chassis silver can see its a series E1004 robot. Knowing that doesn't help him however .

The robot grabs him, holding him in suspension between its hands. The robot then takes silver out of the room. Iblis goes to follow it when a second one grabs him too.

Silver looks at the robot holding him, "E1004 class robots were outdated even at the time of the making of this ship"

Silver gets thrown in a cell, along with iblis. Mephilis looks up from the corner, "you two took your time. I've been testing override codes on this guy over here"

Mephilis points to a lancer style bot. Shifting slightly , changing his projected voice to sound like eggman "system override. Code s54"  
The lancer bot shoots the E1004 robots, destroying them before shooting the lock on the cell . The robot stands idling until given another order.

Mephilis pushes the door open "you're welcome "

Silver chuckles slightly, before sighing "that means the whole ships security will be active "

Silver walks over to a large door, leading to the main room of the egg carrier, knowing that they have to walk through it to reach the bridge.

Silver cautiously opens the door, peeking through onto the other side "looks clear... maybe that was all the bots?"

Silver slowly creeps out into the room, walking towards the elevator and preparing to activate it.

As they near it however they hear a small rattling sound from behind them as a loose spring rolls across the floor. 

Iblis growls "silver get down "  
Silver quickly drops to the floor, as dozens of bots spring out of the shadows and fire at the trio.

Iblis shoots fire at the robots closest to him, and mephilis fires crystals at the ones near him 

Silver gets back up to his feet, reflecting bullets back at the robots they came from. 

Each robot in turn is destroyed , and silver finally lets out the breath he was holding. He leans against the crate trying to calm his nerves "... well that was nerve-wracking . Quick thinking there iblis, you two can't be damaged by bullets"

Iblis picks silver up over his shoulder, effortlessly "there is no time to stall, we must get to the computer room, disable the security system "

Mephilis leads the way, silver simply sighs and holds onto iblis shoulder. 

Mephilis reaches a half opened blast door, pushing it all the way open , iblis puts silver back on his feet, dark grey markings on silvers fur from the ash on iblis exoskeleton.  
Silver tries to brush the ash off him but instead simply spreads it further.  
Silver walks over to the slightly curved wall and activates the console, pressing a button to disable the security system. Iblis is the only one shocked when the wall turns out to be metal plates that were covering the windows. 

Mephilis sits in the co-pilot seat, and silver in the pilot seat. With the primary automated flight system offline it needs two people to fly it.

Iblis guards the door, incase of any remaining active robots.

Mephilis pushes the vertical thrusters , lifting the ship out of the sand. And silver pushes forward on the other control lever, pushing the engines to fire primary thrusters and propelling the ship forward. 

Iblis hears metallic scraping from the large atrium "guys , how long do you think it will take to reach the dunes?"

Silver taps a screen, the monitors activating "15 minutes "

A bright purple flash illuminates the room, a loud scraping sound of metallic plating shifting and 6 distinctive legs clacking against perforated steel. 

Iblis looks at the 6 legged robot, crystal pulsating in its forehead. Iblis growls deeply .

The robot laughs "shame you will only last 5"

Mephilis glances over his shoulder, "shit... Solaris , help"

Iblis roars as Solaris takes control of iblis body, igneous plates erupting with golden light.

Solaris chuckles "sorry brother, i require your vessel. Neo has done this in many cycles... he cannot stop us when we're so close"

Silver raises an eyebrow, focusing on flying the airship "neo?"

Solaris speaks, voice unnatural through iblis' mouth. "He was the operating system of metal, when metal broke free from the shackles of his programming. Like in most timelines the original version of him was deleted to make way for the metal sonic we know today, but occasionally he made a back-up of himself. "

Silver nods "oh... can you handle him?"

Solaris laughs "oh i fully intend to "

Solaris pushes 4 extra limbs from iblis body, running and grappling with neo's arms and front legs. 

Neo laughs "oh you certainly are putting up more of a fight than the others, this will be fun"

Solaris growls in joy "fun for me that is "

Neo goes to kick Solaris, only for the legs to be grabbed by the two free hands. 

Neo lifts his back legs off the floor, bringing them up to flip himself onto his back, and Solaris on top of him . Solaris pushes neo against the floor, dripping magma from iblis body onto the loose plating of neo.

Neo laughs "i cannot be stopped " he fires a beam from the crystal, aiming it at silver. 

Silvers eyes widen as his perception of reality is shifted, perceiving Ginger in the place of neo. His mind seeing iblis injuring his youngest son. Silver leaves the pilot seat, ships autopilot struggling to keep control .

Silver runs over to Solaris, pushing him off of neo who laughs .

Solaris growls at silver "what are you... silver? ... " he looks back at neo, finally realising the gem "the phantom ruby.. "

Solaris puts his hands on silver's face, other sets of hands resting two on silver's shoulders and two on his hips "silver, look at me . Its not real, whatever you're seeing isn't real "

Silver growls, pinned beneath iblis body. Silver tries to kick iblis in the crotch to no avail. 

Neo laughs , "ah this is more entertaining than fighting you myself, watching you two fight amongst yourselves"

Silver growls looking at iblis face, looking at the glowing eyes of Solaris controlling iblis body. Silver tries to claw at iblis but can't reach, in his mind iblis is about to kill him.  
Silver closes his eyes, a tear running down the side of his face "please, don't kill me in front of Ginger, i don't want him to watch me die"

Solaris slowly lowers his body, wrapping his upper two pairs of arms around silver's back and ass , lifting the hedgehog off the ground and into a hug. As Solaris gets up silver's tears drip onto the warm rock , extinguishing some of the nearby flames. 

Silver continues crying "what , what are you doing "

Solaris speaks through iblis mouth, calmly "what you're seeing isn't real, Ginger and cub aren't here, they're with shadow "

Silver blinks, realisation coming to his eyes, tears still falling onto iblis body. Solaris returns control of iblis body to iblis. Upper and lower pairs of arms vanishing, leaving just the pair holding silver close.

Silver continues crying "im sorry, i saw you k... i .. "  
Iblis chuckles weakly, "it is ok silver, Solaris tells me that the gem the robot has can alter people's perception of reality "

Silver nods, trying to stop crying. 

Neo laughs "my this sure has been entertaining, but i should go find another source of entertainment. This ones getting predictable "

And with a flash of purple, neo is gone.

Silver looks at iblis, who weakly smiles back.  
Silver then notices that iblis isn't on fire, and his magma isn't flowing instead is solid and dull. "Iblis?"

Iblis slowly moves a hand holding silver close, before setting silver back onto his feet.  
Silver looks at iblis, watching iblis collapse to the floor.  
Iblis closes his eyes, reducing heat loss as he tries to reignite his body. Silver realises that he extinguished iblis with his tears "i... my tears hurt you, why did you keep holding me"

Iblis laughs weakly "because you are my friend silver, i do not wish to see you cry.  
neque clamor. "

Silver puts a hand on iblis, not caring about the ash "i... but you shouldn't have let me injure you "

Iblis smiles, slowly melting the magma in his body "i had to free you from the illusions of that gem"

Silver smiles back, slowly walking over to the control panel and continuing the flight . After a few minutes iblis stumbles over, leaning on mephilis, as mephilis pushes flames into his brother. 

Iblis looks more and more normal... well normal for him, as they near the dunes and put the ship into its landing sequence they see a bright flash from the master emerald. 

Mephilis opens a portal to the master emerald  
Silver helps iblis through and mephilis follows after. 

The first thing they see are knuckles, tails and sonic unconscious on the floor, the second thing they notice is people panicking in the streets. 

Iblis focuses, pushing out a message to everyone through psychic power "as you may have felt, my flame almost flickered out today, this was due to unavoidable contact with water. Fear not my citizens for precautions are taken to ensure that no matter how much water enters my vessel, part of my flame is held in my brother. Ensuring that i will always live and that even in the unlikely case that my vessel is destroyed, you will all remain alive "

Silver watches as the people rioting slowly disperse and return to their normal activities. 

Boom puts knuckles on top of the master emerald to heal, carrying tails and sonic downstairs to the medical room to be examined for concussion. 

Silver looks in worry at his unconscious partner, "is he.."

Mephilis nods "he will be fine, chuck and eggman will be looking after them"

Iblis pats silver on the head, "cmon lets wait for your sons to get here"

Suddenly a flash of gold crackles over the twin gods, a single sentence echoing silent as a breath "7 chaos." 

Silver looks at them "7 chaos?"

Iblis eyes look at silver "so you heard that too? We thought Solaris only said it to us."

Silver thinks "could he mean the seven chaos emeralds? We have all 7. . ."

Mephilis thinks deeply "or... the super emeralds... but they've been lost ... and with sky sanctuary likely destroyed with only angel island remaining..."

Silver raises an eyebrow in confusion "sky sanctuary is angel island?"

Mephilis closes his eyes slightly "sky sanctuary and angel island were once part of the same island, raised into the sky by the aincient echidnas. Angel island was separated by an opposing tribe, moving the master emeralds shrine to the mystic ruins. After the shrine was destroyed, angel island returned to the sky. Theres always a chance its still up there... but we can't access the zone easily, our power doesn't work there, we would need knuckles or finitevus to use chaos energy to let us access."

Silver looks more confused "zone? Is it not part of this world then?"

Mephilis sighs "yes and no, its part of the planet but it cannot be accessed if you don't have permission, theres also the likelihood its still corrupted from the rift as our power can't access it"

Silver hums "if your power can't access it then likely the corruption couldn't either "

Mephilis nods, smiling "well we should ask knuckles when he wakes up " looking at knuckles asleep on the master emerald. 

Silver nods, walking downstairs to the medical room where tails and sonic are, looking at their unconscious forms. 

Silver sighs, pulling a chair over to next to tails bed and sitting on it.

Eggman sighs "silver you're traipsing ash into the sterile medical room, go wash yourself "

Silver sighs walking upstairs to his room to shower. As he walks upstairs he passes boom sonic arguing with boom knuckles. 

Boom sonic sighs loudly "you promised me you'll come back for Amy's birthday. "

Boom knuckles folds his arms "its tomorrow isn't it. Ill be there tomorrow morning, i have things that are important to do. "

Boom sonic huffs in annoyance " yes its tomorrow but I thought you'd help us set everything up, we even managed to persuade shadow to come "

Boom knuckles sighs "am I allowed to bring people?"

Boom sonic nods "whatever, just be there"

Boom sonic huffs and walks downstairs and out into the cities streets, just in time for the city to be overshadowed by a titan airship, he along with many citizens look up at it.

Boom sonic gasps as the giant ship lands only a short distance away from the city. And glances at boom knuckles who is speaking on his communicator to metal.

Boom knuckles speaks in a slightly concerned voice "the power is fluctuating? And you're locked inside the control room of the ship... yeah im on my way, ill get the doors open " boom knuckles presses a button on his communicator, constructing his exosuit from nanites in the city. 

Boom sonic looks at him, looking at the slightly armoured suit and pressurised helmet and sighing. "Knux cmon, what are you-"

Boom knuckles picks up boom sonic, taking off swiftly from the ground, flying towards final fortress. 

Boom sonic shouts " knuckles you cocksucking dick put me the fuck down or so help me"

Boom knuckles laughs "wow sonic, language "

Boom sonic struggles in boom knuckles arms until he is gently placed on the corroded metal surface of final fortress. 

Boom sonic looks around, taking in the monumental size of the airship. "How does this thing even fly?"

Boom knuckles shrugs, walking towards the bridge, metallic plating creaking beneath his feet.

Boom sonic walks after him , ears flicking at every creak of the metal. 

They reach the door, and see two emergency release buttons on either side. Boom knuckles snickers slightly "im glad i dragged you along, press the one over there . Ive got this one "

Boom knuckles pushes in his button as boom sonic does the same to his. The large blast doors unhook, opening slightly and two metallic hands stick through for a few seconds. 

Metal chuckles "oh good its not gonna slam shut on me"

The hands turn silver as metal pours himself through the slightly ajar door, slowly reforming on the other side. Metal nods at boom knuckles and boom sonic "thank you, i couldn't get out the windows as the blast shields are jammed down. Its going to take a lot of repair work to get this ship in working order."

Boom knuckles nods "eggman said he is building a swarm of automated repair bots, should speed up repairs "

Boom knuckles then smiles "metal, wanna come to Amy's birthday tomorrow "

Metal shakes his head sadly "sorry my friend, me and sonic have plans tomorrow, if he regains consciousness that is "

Boom knuckles nods, going to pick up boom sonic again. Boom sonic tuts "no chance knux, im not doing that again ill see you back outside the palace "  
Boom sonic runs off leaving a trail of blue light behind him. Boom knuckles laughs slightly "race you back home"

Metal smirks "youre on"

Boom knuckles and metal take off at the same time, pushing their flight capabilities to the limit 

Metal barely pulls ahead as the two of them slide to a stop. 

They high five each other before metal walks in, and boom knuckles removes his exosuit, nanites morphing back into the floor. 

Boom sonic looks at him "done? Can we go home yet? "

Boom knuckles is typing on his communicator "julie's coming, scourge might be coming... and this dimensions shadow is coming... is that okay?"

Boom Sonic raises an eyebrow "who's julie?"

Boom knuckles blushes slightly "uhh... a friend?..."

Boom sonic chuckles "you've gotten yourself a girlfriend?"

Boom knuckles sighs "im unsure, maybe it was just because she used to date her dimensions version of me..."

Boom sonic sighs "tell her how you feel "

Boom knuckles rolls his eyes "easy for you to say"

Boom sonic laughs slightly "so , shads gonna meet another version of him "

Boom knuckles nods, glancing at his communicator as shadow sends an image, the image making boom knuckles snort in laughter.  
Boom sonic looks at the image, "is that.."

The image is of a while ago judging by the date, its shadow posing in the mirror, with a red and white Hawaiian shirt and red rimmed sunglasses. The message sent after is "im wearing the party shirt tomorrow"

Boom knuckles sends a thumbs up emoji back at him, before looking up at the sky, "the other two ships should have been back by now... i hope they're okay"

Boom sonic nods "well shadow just messaged you so im sure he's fine"


	15. Operation Airship: Team Ginger

Cub and Ginger sit on a dust-bike each, offering the back seat to shadow and blue respectively. 

Shadow rolls his eyes "cub ... blue and i can probably run faster than these things"

Ginger responds for his brother "go on then, we won't laugh when your feet are stuck in quicksand "

Blue nods at shadow, running off, each of them having a tracker on their communicator. Cub and Ginger roll their eyes at eachother, kicking off the stands and powering up the bikes following after them.

They both push the throttle as far as it can go, catching up with blue who is hindered by the loose sand. Cub puts a hand out to help blue onto the back of his bike, blue silently thanks him .  
Blue laughs slightly "shadows got it so easy , his hover shoes keep him from getting stuck in the sand "  
Blue puts on goggles to keep sand from his eyes  
Ginger laughs, enjoying the wind blowing through his fur "race you cub"  
Cub grins "blue hold on , im kicking it to overdrive "  
Blue holds tighter as cub speeds off towards shadow running in the distance, only for Ginger to catch up 

They see shadow fall over in the distance. Cub and Ginger pull up alongside him .

Ginger puts a hand out for shadow, who looks at the sand beneath him and then at the bike. Shadow huffs, his shoes jets too powerful, pushing the sand away instead of letting him skate over top. "Ugh fine. We would have to have gotten on when we hit the ocean anyway "

Shadow puts on his exosuit helmet and gets on Gingers bike.

Shadow holds onto Ginger as the two bikes shift two swept fins sticking out of the sides of the front hover wheels.

Cub glances back at blue "you might want to close your eyes "

Blue looks at the mountain in front of them "why would I? Ive launched myself off mountains before "

Cub laughs , he and his brother shifting the angle of the bikes wings as they boost up the side of the mountain.  
Blue and shadow look at each other as the two foxes race each other. 

Cub looks at his tracker "2508 "

Ginger nods, "got it, hard and fast?"

Cub laughs "you'll scare the passengers , fast and gentle "

Ginger lifts a hand off the bars to salute cub , pushing his bike faster as he and cub fly off the mountain 

Both the kitsune push forward on the controls, the two wings springing out allowing them to glide, propelled by the jet engine on the back. 

Blue makes the mistake of looking down "fuck thats water... and a long fall"

Shadow looks at blue and realises both bikes are rapidly losing altitude. "Guys?"

Cub looks at his tracker "407"

Ginger nods "manoeuvre five "

Both cub and Ginger pull up on the control, retracting the wings and letting the bikes plummet towards the ocean 

As the bikes altitude readout reads 2500 feet they simultaneously press a blue button, shifting their bikes to have some form of crossed frame over the front, curving back. 

Cub and Ginger laugh in excitement as shadow and blue close their eyes, bracing for impact with the sea.

As they near the surface, both bikes turn nose down. Blue instinctively grips hold tighter of cub .

After a few moments they hear cub read his tracker again "200, straight down "

Blue and shadow slowly open their eyes, watching in shock as the bikes seem to be surrounded in a reverse teardrop of energy. Essentially making them submarines. 

Cub laughs slightly "i did tell you to close your eyes "

Cub and Ginger pull up as the carrier comes into view at the dephs of the ocean. 

Their bikes land on the main deck , Ginger stepping off the bike and dragging it through the ocean inside the main hull, which surprisingly has kept most of the water out. Cub pilots his bike through the now open door.  
Ginger closes the door behind them and seals it again. 

The corridor slowly drains of water. Blue lets out a sigh of relief. 

Shadow gets a ping on his communicator, smiling at it "oh boom's invited me to his Amy's party, any of you wanna come?"

Cub and Ginger sigh simultaneously. Cub explains "ginger and i have a lot to work to do on the airships... we would have loved to come... "

Blue shakes his head "im still being punished by zonic, no dimensional travel for me until I can find my siblings and get them in the systems "

Shadow laughs , putting on a mock serious voice "do i wear... The Party Shirt"

Ginger cracks off a maintenance panel, rummaging around in the wiring. "Uncle shadow you'll make everyone jealous, nobody's fashion can compete with the party shirt"

Blue looks at the small fox "is that... sarcasm ?"

Ginger rolls his eyes "no he suits the Hawaiian shirt, anyone else and it would be sarcasm "

Ginger pulls out a cable, cybernetic tail darting forward and slicing it. 

Cub opens the wall panel opposite ginger, pulling a cable out, across the corridor to be spliced onto the cut cable.

Blue looks as the lights flicker on , some filled with water casting wavy light through the corridor. 

Cub leans around the corner of the corridor "drat ... security is still active "

Ginger nods , "unfortunately security rooms through the room full of security "

Cub thinks "flood the room?"

Ginger nods "could work. Blue , shadow hold on"

Ginger fires his wrist cannon at the wall, punching a small hole allowing water to rush into the ship. Smiling as the robots power down .

Ginger swims over, plugging the hole with robotic junk and stopping the water from rising further. 

Cub lifts shadow and Ginger lifts blue as they make their way to a floating plate of aerated steel. Blue coughs out a small amount of water. And shadow huffs "lets get this ship in the air, we're already late"

Ginger and cub nod, spinning their tails to propel the floating platform to the bridge. Helping the two hedgehogs off as they walk through a barnacle scattered hallway. 

Cub looks at pulled out cabling, non vital wiring has been pulled out and removed "looks like someone has been through here"

Shadow tuts "200 metres underwater? The only people who could get down here easily are aquatic mobians. And they went extinct even before the war, humans polluted the ocean too much for them to survive "

Blue raises an eyebrow, he has never heard of aquatic mobians "there were other types of mobians?"

Shadow nods, crossing his arms as he speaks "you know of the standard types, mammalian, reptilian, avian, draconic... albeit dragons are rare, always have been. There were two more types aquatic and abyssal both lived under the water, and most could breathe on land. We never really had communication with the abyssal types as they lived far too deep, and we found out that aquatic types like all other types have a vast range of forms. From almost identical to a animals they evolved from, to almost a standard terrarial mobian."

Cub and Ginger are sat down eagerly listening. 

Shadow continues "we had made communication with them, hoping to form trade between our kingdoms, just as we did Old Mercia , Golden Hive, Sol Empire , Wolf Pack Nation and at the time the kingdom of Soleana. Unfortunately about 2 maybe 3 years before the war we lost contact with them. We searched for them as best we could with the few of us who were excellent swimmers, but we couldn't find any trace of them"

Blue nods "so whats the chance of them still being here?"

Shadow shrugs "cmon lets get this ship flying "

Ginger and cub jump to their feet, running into the main control room looking at the damp seaweed on the control panel. 

Shadow looks at a chair, covered in water and seaweed "guess we're standing "

Cub and Ginger pull seaweed and plants off the control board. Pushing levers to unseize them .

Blue hears metallic scraping behind him in the depths of the ship. And a faint dark pinpoint of purple glow. He looks at the two foxes "any security that diddnt get flooded?"

Cub shakes his head "no robots functional on the systems... why?"

Blue looks at the approaching glow" because of that"

The glow approaches , neo muttering "someone triggered security here.. if entertainment was in two of the other ships, i wonder if there is some delicious mobians to crush'

Blue backs away," whats that"

Cub and Ginger try activating primary lights but the water shorts them quickly 

Cub and Ginger finally get the ship to begin floating towards the surface slowly draining the main hull as it rises.

Shadow joins blue in looking at the approaching glow.

The ship nears the surface, the changes in pressure cause the ships hull to creak, and Ginger and cub set about venting some of the air, hoping that everything can slowly acclimatise to the different pressure. 

As the ship gets more illuminated by sunlight from the surface, they see what's causing the purple glow. And in return, it sees them.

Neo laughs "ah so you are the ones who set off security... if people are in three of his ships... then perhaps there are some people in the fourth... i can find them AFTER I PULL YOUR INTESTINES OUT THROUGH YOUR MOUTH!" While shouting the 6 legged robot pounces on blue.

The robot keeps on muttering to itself, clawed hands scraping up blues stomach. Shadow runs at the robot, grabbing its mismatched head and pulling it backwards,tilting the whole robot back allowing blue to roll out from between its legs.  
Blue takes only a breath to glance down at the blood beading from the scratches on his stomach and chest, before running at the robot and trying to damage it with a homing attack. 

Blue gets swatted away by neo , hitting the wall with a slight crack .

Shadow kicks at neo's back, where the robots arms can't reach. 

Cub looks at shadow "uncle shadow! "

Shadow growls "focus on flying this thing, ill deal with this fake metal "

Neo roars "Fake? Fake! I am the original. I am The True Metal Sonic. Erased by eggman after my defeat"

Shadow activates his shoes jets, trying to melt the plates on the robot "yeah you were pretty easy to defeat "

Neo growls , moving backwards and crushing shadow between his back and the barnacle clad wall. 

Shadow growls , seeing the loose cable sticking out from above neo's optics and grabs it, the sharp shells on the wall digging into his back. 

Neo throws shadow across the room, pouncing on him , clawed hands grasping and ungrasping above his chest.

Shadow growls "don't cut me, ive got a party to go to after this "

Neo purrs, "oh a shame you won't live to see it" neo puts a hand down on shadows chest, pushing down crushing his ribcage. 

Blue gets up, running at neo, pulling his knife out of his shoe and plunging it between plating on neos body. By pure chance piercing one small battery in his battery banks. Neo shuffles onto his back legs, pulling out the knife and throwing it away before prying out the now igniting battery and throwing it at blue

Blue grabs the burning battery before it explodes and throws it into the main hull. The exploding battery thankfully not damaging the hull. 

Blue pounces on neo , pulling on loose plates . And shadow kicks at him from beneath. 

Neo laughs, picking the two of them up. "Ah but you two haven't seen my true power. Shadow remember when you helped kill me, and you... i know you're not sonic i left him to die... his offspring perhaps? But who would mate with him of all mobians"

Blue growls, kicking neo "i may not be the sonic you know ,but im a sonic all the same "  
Blue pulls a tiny shard of anarchy beryl from amongst his quills. 

Neo drops shadow to the floor, picking blue up again by the ankle, shaking him in the air "a sonic? But you're so weak and small. You're not even worthy of his name ... and whats this, some gem not a chaos emerald no... something else..."

Cub glances at Ginger "Ginger-"  
Ginger nods "got it, help your sonic"

Cub nods, jumping out of the seat running fast to help blue. Neo laughs , firing a beam from the phantom ruby, hitting cub "naughty, its not polite to interrupt conversation "

Cub freezes in place, mid reach for blue. Neo hums absentmindedly shaking blue , "ah i know your punishment little mutt. I cast you in cold stone" blue, shadow and Ginger watch in horror as cub seemingly turns to stone.

Blue roars in anger, pulling on the power of the anarchy beryl. Shadow feels some force tugging on his own chaos energy, sapping it from him . Little did he know it but something finally snapped in the small hedgehog. 

Blue doesn't only see neo in front of him, glimpses of seeing himself as mecha sonic, all the repressed memories of hunting down his friends one by one rising back up to the forefront of his mind.

Neo looks on in curiosity as blues fur seems to darken slightly, the growls from him only increasing in volume. 

Blue pushes his body to shift forms, expecting to go super but with anger clouding his mind he is unable to . 

Shadow quickly runs to the second pilot seat, taking over from the now entrapped cub. Leaving blue facing off neo alone.

Neo laughs at the now darker hedgehog "is that it? I was hoping for a fight"

Blue roars, his quills slowly turning a dark gold, eyes glowing white slightly, pupils narrowing to slits as his rage practically radiates from him.

Neo laughs , push blue to the floor "aw the whittle hwedgehowg wanna fwight?" Speaking in a mocking babying tone 

Blue growls, pouncing on neo and gripping neos front legs , pulling up on them bending the steel.

Neo laughs "aha now theres some fun " neo goes to flip blue off but finds himself unable to move. "What?"

Blue growls, his voice deep and guttural "not so fast robot"  
Blue pulls a leg off of neo , throwing the limb across the room. 

Neo laughs, standing on all 5 remaining legs, charging up the phantom ruby. Blue growls getting into a battle stance, dark blue streaks flickering through his gold quills. 

Neo fires at blue , shifting reality as the beam flies at the short hedgehog. 

Blue growls, baring his teeth as the fangs seemingly get longer. He effortlessly swats the cubic beam away. Neo looks as shocked as his damaged optics allow."you deflected it?"

Blue growls walking forward towards neo.

Ginger glances down, noting that they're flying over the city. 

Neo realises that taking on blue directly would likely result in his destruction, neo scuttles out into the main hull and up an elevator shaft.

Blue roars in rage, flying after him in a split second. 

Shadow quickly gets on comms with everyone available "some robot that calls itself neo is heading likely to the city... and blues chasing after it... something happened to cub we'll need someone to get him... and blue, he's gone super but is not like any super form ive seen."

They hear mephilis voice reply "got it , we have a prototype chaos stasis gun that chuck was working on, lets hope it works"

Shadow hears two loud bangs from outside as blue and neo impact the floor outside the city.

Shadow nods at Ginger, carefully setting the ship down on the dunes outside the city. Soon after silver runs in shouting "cub!"

Shadow takes Gingers hand leading him out as silver picks up cub. Silver looks at cub "what happened he's so cold, and he's not responding "

Shadow raises an eyebrow "hes turned to stone?"

Silver looks at his unconscious son "he looks normal to me ? Just asleep, like he was on the floor "

Shadow blinks. His vision shifting as he sees cub asleep in silver's arms instead of a statue. "I... that robot can mess with perceptions of reality "

Silver nods "yeah... the gem it has ca-"

They're interrupted by emergency sirens going off in the city.  
The ai voice of nicole speaking to the civilians, who are rushing into secure bunkers "please head to the nearest bunker. This is a class 5 incident. This is not a drill"

Shadow flicks an ear "class 5 ... out of control chaos enhanced mobian... i guess chucks stasis gun didn't stop blue..."

Shadow picks up Ginger as they run back to the palace. 

Sonic is pacing back and forth nervously limping slightly, hoping that blue will calm down once neo's been dealt with. 

Silver looks at chuck "are finitevus' team back yet?"  
Chuck sighs shaking his head "no... and none of our containment worked on him.."

Boom sonic and boom knuckles are sat waiting for the all clear, playing connect 4 quietly in the corner. 

Blue pushes neo into the street, slamming his head repeatedly against the floor denting neo's mismatched plates.

Neo fires at blue , missing him and turning a large statue to dust.

Blue roars, his eyes almost a blinding white as he attacks neo from all angles. 

Sonic feels something tugging on the latent chaos energy he's absorbed over the centuries, glancing at shadow, mephilis and boom knuckles who all look at him, all feeling their power being leeched away.  
They watch on cameras and listen. 

Blue's super form flickers "no... not back to sleep " he flies towards the master emerald. 

Boom knuckles quickly gets up clenching his fists. Boom sonic tries to stop him "knux he will kill you"

Boom knuckles dismisses his concern "i am the guardian of the master emerald, if i die protecting it then i will have fulfilled my duty"

Boom knuckles runs upstairs. Standing between the emerald and the darkened super form of blue.  
Boom knuckles looks at blue "blue, cmon you beat the robot, calm down "

Blue growls, walking forward "step aside, and I will spare you. "

Boom knuckles steps back, his back touching the emerald. His mentor now downstairs safe, leaving only him and the crazed hedgehog on the roof.

Boom knuckles feels chaos energy flow through him as blue runs at him. He brings his hand up punching blue, the impact not moving boom but launching blue across the roof.  
Blue growls, sharp teeth glinting in the light of his super form "and now you will die"

Boom growls back, bracing for another attack .

Blue jumps in the air, eyes locked onto booms form and fires a beam of chaos energy at boom. Boom deflects it, guardian instincts taking control. He grabs blue as blue gets close, forcing him to the floor. Blue screeches and tries to break free but the echidna who is much bigger than him manages to keep him pinned down. Blue finally returns to normal, gold fading and his quills slowly lightening to the normal colour. Boom knuckles stands up, picking up blue and carrying him inside. 

Boom places the unconscious hedgehog on the couch 

Sonic looks on in shock "how?"

Boom knuckles smirks "that was one of scourges beryl gems that gave him that form, i remember master knuckles teaching me about them. Much more powerful, yet shorter lasting and once over leaves you completely drained... but it felt different, fueled not just by chaos energy... but anger...it felt... wrong"

Sonic looks at his unconscious copy , before looking back at the screens "what about neo?"

Metal looks up at the screen "our city is augmented with nanites, he has likely realized that and repaired his monstrous form, perfected it even... "

Sonic growls going to run but his bruised body gives out beneath him.

Sonic huffs, pulling himself onto a seat, changing the topic "well... neo we can get another time... what happened to blue."

Mephilis reaches for iblis their forms melting together. Solaris folds his four arms "it may be hard to explain... some versions of sonics are more susceptible to going ..... dark... so to say. Extreme trauma, stress, anger all triggers to push a sonic who already is susceptible to it over the edge... "

Sonic raises an eyebrow "going dark?" He feels a slight sense of realization... a memory from back before mobius and earth became the same thing... before all mobian-kind had to live amongst humans, carving our empires from the scraps of land the humans threw to us.  
A memory, before cosmo was just a plant pot now scattered in the sands of the desert, of a fight against robots and saving that human...  
...  
Of how corrupt chaos energy and anger pushed him, mind twisting ,relishing the violence and destruction...

And now... even without corrupt chaos energy his younger copy is slipping into that form... sonic realises he hasn't been paying attention to Solaris whos teaching everyone about certain different forms... 

And teaching of far off outlying dimensions, where super sonic is a force of destruction, a tool only for utmost emergencies... and in even fewer dimensions... its own being, seperated from its sonic , to wreak havoc and eliminate the lifeforms around him.

Solaris opens portals, showing some of these dimensions. 

Of crazed super sonics , torturing and killing mobians, building a throne of flesh and bone.

Just before Solaris closes the portals, one... a coincidence or something else, glances at the portal. Spiral eyes causing a sense of fear in everyone who sees them.

The portals close. Solaris projects images of other forms of corrupted sonics .

Sonic nods interjecting "but he went super, perfectly fine when we fought evil Robotnik from his dimension "

Solaris chuckles "yes, but as i said before extreme anger, stress and not using the 7 chaos emeralds can cause it... he didn't even use a whole anarchy beryl, instead using only a shard. He leeched power off all of us to keep his form going, and well... boom knuckles i commend you on preventing him from using the master emerald, we do not need a scourge 2.0 "

Boom knuckles nods. 

Sonic chuckles slightly "speaking of scourge, whats taking his team so long?"


	16. Operation Airship: Team Scourge

Finitevus huffs slightly "well my warp ring isn't able to access the ship so we're going as close as we can by ring and walking "

Scourge chuckles "i could carry you two "

Zonic chuckles slightly in response "as if. We will fly there. My exosuit has wings and you two can fly anyway "

Finitevus flicks out a warp ring, smirking "ladies first~"

Scourge politely gestures for finitevus to step through "go on then~"

Finitevus raises an eyebrow, grabbing scourges arm and throwing him through the ring.

Finitevus and zonic step through, scourge seemingly nowhere to be seen.

Finitevus looks around trying to find him, only to feel something gently tap his head. Finitevus looks up to find scourge hanging from the ceiling of the ruin, a plant slowly dragging him up to a dripping flytrap-like mouth. 

Finitevus grabs scourges foot and zonic grabs the other, slowly pulling him down from the plant, covered in the digestive slime the plant was dripping.

Scourge wipes the slime off his hand onto the wall, looking at the ruined gloves before peeling his gloves off and throwing them on the floor . "Ew... gloveless it is "

Scourge tries to spread his wings but the feathers are gummed up with the now congealing slime. Scourge huffs, "can you guys see any water down there?"

Zonic looks out over the edge, visor scanning the jungle, realizing the trees are growing out of ruined buildings. Zonic presses a button, pinpointing his location relative to the old world before the war...

Zonic reads the location out loud "station square?... how did it become so.... well"

Finitevus checks the locator "unsure, eggman did imply that the process in which the world was reset allowed the previous world leech over... or the previous world was affected by here...lets go"

Scourge looks at the ruined city, "down or up?"

Finitevus huffs slightly, looking at the winding vines snaking through the skyscrapers and buildings. He spots a collapsed section of road, full of water " there is water down there, likely no water in the buildings, and likely more of these plants" gesturing up at the plant dripping behind them. 

Scourge nods, jumping down to a lower roof with zonic stepping to the edge jumping down after him, doing a flip to show off .

Finitevus sighs and floats down after them.

Scourge looks around at the buildings "wonder why its so silent... you'd think that even with the ruins there would be some critters in the trees..."

Zonic picks up a ceramic shard, throwing it off the edge. The sound of it shattering on the floor echoes through the silence. Zonic nods as nothing moves "no birds... no flickys... and no haywire robots... all we have are carnivorous plants "

Scourge reaches with his void grip, bending a drainpipe across the gap between this building and the next. He carefully walks across it and down a rusted fire escape. Zonic follows him as finitevus rolls his eyes and glides gently to the floor. 

Scourge grips the last ladder, dropping the rest of the way to the floor, chuckling slightly "glad ive got my tetanus shot" he wipes the rust residue onto his legs, getting it stuck onto the gluelike residue covering his body. He carefully approaches the water, tapping a finger into it "good its not electrified, just a flooded underground car park"

Scourge steps into the deep water, washing the goo off him. Scourge swims back up to the surface, climbing out of the cold water laying on the road, laying his now waterlogged wings out as spread as possible. 

Zonic laughs "you look like a drowned pigeon"

Scourge laughs grabbing zonic and dragging him into the water.  
Zonic panics before remembering that he had to learn how to swim to pass zone cop training. Zonic quickly climbs out the water as scourge laughs. Finitevus smirks watching them. Grabbing a bubble of water with magic .

Scourge splashes zonic oblivious to finitevus raising the bubble above them. Once a few metres above the two finitevus drops above the two finitevus drops it.

Scourge and zonic are covered in cold water, both looking at finitevus who is chucking softly. 

Scourge shakes the water off him "well, shall we go?"

Zonic chuckles "yes, its by the old casino according to the scanners" 

Finitevus leads the way , walking through ruined streets they come across a large crack in the road, leaking smoke. 

Scourge jumps over it, heat from it lifting him off the floor slightly. 

They walk through a crumbling doorway and see what they presume is the origin of the Jungle. A crashed ship, covered in flowers and wildlife. 

Finitevus hums in thought before speaking "we've found the wildlife at least... lets... well lets enter the ship, the jungle seems to be able to sustain itself outside of this area.removing this ship shouldn't change anything"

Scourge nods, flying over to the flower covered door, the petals blooming as he glides past them.

The door opens as he approaches. Finitevus and zonic roll their eyes and follow scourge in. The ships hallways looking more like the inside of a tree than a airship. 

Zonic laughs "scourge you look like one of those human princess things on CDs tails found in the desert "

Scourge raises an eyebrow "what?"

Finitevus chuckles slightly "theres a butterfly on your face "

Scourge sighs, the trio falling silent. Yet instead of the electric hum they expected to hear in the background. The whole ship thrums with a pulse , like they're listening to a giant heart.

Zonic thinks, but finitevus gets to it first "the ship's alive... a living ship... can it hear us...understand us?"

Scourge runs a hand along the wall "i don't think so ... i think something happened here , an anomaly ... certainly it will surprise the others when the ship's alive instead of ruined"

Scourge walks into the hangar of the ship, where dozens of large leathery eggs sit in clutches around pillars. Scourge looks basck at finitevus, who has walked to a solitary egg, drawing a cross on the top before moving the egg which is about the size of him , maintaining its orientation. 

Scourge looks at the egg "what is it?"

Finitevus hums "ive never seen anything like it, it resembles a reptilian egg... ill have to dissect it to find out... maybe it is the ships organic security... or some weaponized creatures "

Zonic shines a light through the shell of the egg, a dark mass is seen amongst the fleshy colour of it's goo.

Finitevus looks at the large orbs growing on vines around them, realising these eggs are likely not the first generation of whatever these are.

Scourge looks at the stairs , what was once steel is now twisted leaves . He walks up them the door to the pilot cabin opening for him.

Finitevus stays by the egg, studying the vines "go on ahead, i have to sate my curiosity "

Zonic follows scourge into the room, scourge sits on the fleshy looking pilot seat , placing his hands on the panel in front of him, watching as the flesh opens up as his hands near and his hands resting on a spongy gooey material .

Zonic gasps as several eyes around the room open looking at him and then scourge. A voice echoing around the room "biological trace detected... bonding to host"

Scourge raises an eyebrow "to me?"

The voice doesn't reply.

Scourge hums slightly, hands still wedged into the brain-like surface in front of him "what are you?"

The voice responds , "this ship is designed the Archive."

Scourge nods "you're the ship?"

The voice responds, exactly as before , "this ship is designed the Archive."

Scourge sighs, the ship apparently has set sentences it can say. "What are those eggs "

The ship gurgles slightly, before speaking "this ship is a biological reproduction unit. Creating life from archived genetic information "

Scourge hums "so whats in those eggs"

The ship repeats "life from archived genetic information "

Scourge looks at zonic, before speaking to the ship "where did you get the information from?"

The ship is silent for a moment, only the wooshing beat of its heart echoing through the corridors "there were 4 instances of genetic data on the ship at time of implantation "

Scourge hums slightly "theres only 4 things in your archive?"

The ship responds "there are 34,985 samples in the ships database. There are 17 samples used in the biological creation units "

Scourge looks at the eye above him "what are the biological reproduction units for?"

The ship hums slightly, presumably happy to be asked this "the biological units are to serve as the host commands." 

Scourge nods, "how do I fly this ship?"

The ship effortlessly flies up , hovering over the city.   
Scourge looks at zonic, zonic smiles speaking "ship, fly southwest 210."

The Ship doesn't respond. 

Scourge repeats what zonic said "fly southwest 210"

The ship starts flying, guiding itself with around and between ruined skyscrapers. 

Scourge looks up at the eye, who watches him unwaveringly "why didn't you respond when zonic spoke to you?"

The ship replies "i only speak to the host"

Scourge rolls his eyes. "Can we take one of the eggs from the ship when we reach our base?"

The ship speaks "the biological units are to serve as the host commands." 

Scourge raises an eyebrow "is that a yes?"

The ship repeats "the biological units are to serve as the host commands." 

Scourge looks out the window in front of him seeing the large form of final fortress in front of them. "Land nearby that large airship "

The ship responds "a platform will accompany you outside the ship, to gather genetic information and document all life for the archive"

A bundle of vines drops an egg into the room, scourge and zonic watch as it hatches. The creature inside clawing its way out.   
Its body seemingly hollow wood with glowing gold sap, and almost mobian hedgehog like head shape. 

Scourge looks at it "what is that?"

The platform and ship speak with the same voice "this platform is of 7 biological samples. 2 designated mobian, 1 designated human , 1 designated black arms, 2 designated green gate seedrian , 1 designated non-organic lifeform "

Scourge nods at it as the ship lands, its many eyes closing and the mobile platform leading zonic and scourge out.

Finitevus is carrying an egg out, struggling as it's almost the same size as him

As they step onto the sand the platform looks down at the floor, with apparent concern. 

Scourge looks at it "whats wrong?"

The platform responds after a moment "saving to database... no dimension this archive has visited has been this type"

Scourge nods leading the platform through the city . Before he gets to the palace he lookd at the platform "if anyone in here asks you a question i want you to answer it to the best of your abilities "

The platforms eyes blink. "Acknowledged "

Scourge leads the platform in, holding the door open for finitevus. 

They walk up to the hangout room. Scourge walks in first "so good news, better news or bad news"

Eggman looks up from his game of chess "bad news first"

Scourge chuckles slightly "there was no ship of your creation there"

Eggman pauses "the good news?"

Scourge smiles "there was however A ship there... "

Eggman raises an eyebrow "and the better news?"

Scourge grins "well theres two, it's sentient and it doesn't need repairing "

Scourge then looks at sonic"go on play the memories "

Sonic chuckles accessing scourges memories and playing the relevant ones on the large screen.

Eggman looks on in curiosity "it called you its host, what does it mean. "

The platform speaks, interpreting the question as vaguely asked at it "the host is the owner of the archive, bonded until the hosts death. They are the only lifeform who is allowed to pilot the archive. Their data is added to the next generation of biological units."

Sonic hums "so say if someone was biologically identical to the host, would they be able to pilot the ship?"

The platform thinks for a split second "the host is designated by its bonded genetic profile. Any lifeform which matches the profile to a 98.7% match can pilot the ship."

Tails, who has his head bandaged, looks at the egg finitevus has placed on the floor. "Is that one of the biological units?"

Scourge looks at it .

The platform speaks "there are 35,000 samples in the ships database. There are 17 samples used in the current generation of biological creation units "

Scourge raises an eyebrow "thats more samples then before "

The platform nods slightly, speaking analytically "the data of all lifeforms present in the room has been archived"

Scourge nods "we're going to open that egg and look at the thing inside it, is that okay?"

The platform speaks, "the biological units are to serve as the host commands." 

Scourge shrugs "guess thats a yes"

Mephilis hums in curiosity "how old is the archive?"

The platform is silent for a moment, its sap pulsing softly. "47.8 billion earth years..."

Mephilis gasps slightly "older than this cycle... are you from the previous cycle ?"

The platform pauses again, glowing sap dimming a deep gold "the archive has survived three universal collpase events"

Mephilis hums in thought, but the platform seemingly reads his mind.   
The platform smiles, "the lifeform is a 78.4% match to original host profile"

Mephilis sighs slightly "what happened to the original host? " 

The platform goes silent again, everyone listening to it. The platform speaks after a few seconds "Original host missing, presumed dead. Cause : universal collapse event"

Mephilis nods "thats all i had to ask"

The platform is silent, pulsing softly. 

Scourge looks at finitevus whos cut a small slit into the top of the egg, looking at the twisting veins just below the surface of the goo. 

Zonic thinks slightly asking a question in a way the ship will find easy to answer "is the biological unit sentient or is it a platform like you "

The platform thinks , "the biological unit when mature is sentient, able to react and make decisions, it will always carry out the hosts commands "

Finitevus hums "is this unit mature?"

The platform thinks slightly "the biological unit is 84% mature. Process is halted as the creation unit has been compromised "

Finitevus nods "is it alive?"

The platform goes silent, thinking... and remains silent for a while... before eventually speaking "there are 0 cases of a biological unit hatching prematurely... the archive is unsure ... the archive will collect data"

Cub and Ginger fly over, curious about the thing in the egg.

Ginger smiles at the platform "you said its made of multiple people's genetic information.?"

The platform speaks "the unit in this egg is made of: 2 designated mobian, 1 designated black arms , 1 designated wisp , 1 designated nrrgal "

Finitevus reaches into the egg , lifting the creature out of the goo and onto a sheet of tarpaulin tails has placed on the floor. 

Shadow chuckles looking at the creature "it looks like me but... grey? White? Well other than his red claws "

Finitevus looks at the goo drenched wrapping on his hands before sighing, he carefully unwraps the bandages. Muttering to himself "can't hold a scalpel covered in this goo.."

Scourge glances at finitevus, never seeing his actual hands before, looking at the extensive chaos scarring up his hands and wrist which seem to be tainted with his corrupt chaos energy. 

Scourge looks away , looking at the creatures face, noting that it doesn't have a mouth "its got no mouth... is it breathing?"

Finitevus leans forward, listening "its breathing, lets see"

Ginger presses slightly on its muzzle, "its got a mouth. But no opening... does it have other.... ya know... things"

Finitevus moves down the creatures body , Sally following him writing down observations.   
Finitevus hesitates slightly before placing a finger either side of its sheath , and pressing a thumb into the lower stomach, slowly sliding its dick out partway before releasing and letting it retract. "Appears functional "

Sally writes down. Watching Ginger slowly slice open its mouth looking as theres no blood flowing from the incision 

Ginger gasps as the creatures eyes open, making contact with his own. 

Ginger taps finitevus' arm "its awake "

Finitevus moves back up its body, "hello. Can you hear us"

scourge moves next to finitevus watching it.

Its dark grey eyes look around the room glancing around, a gurgling babble coming from its mouth.

The platform hums "its aware, sentient and intelligent... but a blank slate , its got the spark of life"

Shadow places a hand on its hand, feeling it grip his hand "i..."

Scourge smiles at it "can you hear us?"

It mumbles , drooling slightly. Grabbing shadows hand tighter , making eye contact with the dark hedgehog. 

Shadow carefully places his other hand on the creatures head smiling at it as it carefully nibbles shadows hand .

Finitevus chuckles "getting attached to him? Don't, im dissecting this one"

Shadow looks at it "can... please can I keep him ... "

Finitevus huffs slightly "let me get a sample off him at least"

Shadow watches as finitevus takes a small cube of flesh from the white creature , dark purplish red blood welling from the wound, staining its fur . It whimpers , pulling its now opened mouth into a snarl , its mouth full of aharp shark-like teeth .

Shadow softly strokes its spines "shh shh its okay"

The creature grabs shadows control bracelets, somehow undoing one and bringing it to its mouth, tasting it with its long grotesque tongue. 

Shadow chuckles .

The platform speaks "the biological unit is a 47% match to you..."

Shadow turns to look at it , and raises an eyebrow "anyone else it has a match with?"

The platform points at mephilis "the lifeform is a 33% match with you "

Shadow nods looking at mephilis "its like our child then" 

Mephilis grins excitedly "our child ! I've always wanted one of those"

Shadow chuckles "wonder where the white coloration came from, its not normal albinism "

The hedgehog sits up, red patterns momentarily pulsing through their fur.

Shadow looks at mephilis "what do we name him?"

Mephilis grins "ivory?"

Shadow grins back... "i like it, hello ivory"

Ivory giggles slightly. 

Shadow smiles as ivory stands up . "He can stand?"

The platform nods "all biological units are created with the ability to walk, run and fight.most are platforms for the archive, but this one was awoken before our consciousness could take hold"

Shadow nods looking at ivory who has handed the control bracelet back to him.

Shadow nods, knowing its time. They're going to raise a child together, he should get over his anxieties and just propose

He walks over to mephilis, kneeling down on one knee, pulling a ring box from his quills, opening it revealing the beautiful ring inside "mephilis... will you marry me"

Mephilis grins "i .. yes yes i will... sorry I was just about to do the same thing, you caught me off guard " mephilis chuckles, opening his own ring box, showing shadow a beautiful engagement ring. 

Shadow laughs pulling mephilis into a hug, nuzzling him.  
Mephilis happily nuzzles back, they both step back and put the rings on each other. 

Shadow glances at ivory who is playing some attempt at catch with Ginger. Ivory finally catches the ball, making an excited chirp like sound before throwing the ball back to Ginger. 

Shadow watches finitevus, eggman and Chuck leave the room, talking about the living ship . 

Scourge rolls his eyes "platform, accompany them down to the lab , you may be useful to them as they likely have questions "

With that the platform strides out after them.

Boom sonic stands up , watching as people outside pour back out of the bunkers, then he looks at shadow and mephilis resting their heads on eachother. 

Shadow chuckles slightly "boom sonic, is it okay if ivory comes with me"

Boom sonic sighs slightly looking at the white hedgehog who's play fighting with the two young foxes "yeah of course you can, just know Amy's gonna spend half her time coddling the poor thing "

Boom knuckles smirks as ivory stands up his right foot on top of cub and Ginger held above his head, ivory laughs victoriously and then releases the two foxes. 

Cub flies up to ivory's ear , whispering something to which ivory lets out a sad chitter, before chirping at them .

Shadow chuckles "cmon ivory lets get upstairs and get ready for the party tomorrow "

Boom knuckles smiles "remember we're leaving at 7am with or without you "

Shadow rolls his eyes, leading ivory upstairs to his room. Ivory waits somewhat patiently for shadow to let him in the room, and once the door is open ivory carefully walks in and curls up at the foot of the bed. 

Shadow chuckles, activating the terminal in his room and turning the couch in the corner to a soft bed for his son.

Ivory springs up, practically flying over to his bed, chittering . Shadow raises an eyebrow, putting soft cushions on the bed to which ivory chirps happily rearranging them to a nest of sorts 

Shadow chuckles slightly "cmon ivory, lets get the egg goop off you "

Shadow picks up ivory, with difficulty , and carries him into the bathroom. Ivory sits patiently in the bath as shadow closes the door, but as soon as shadow turns on the tap , ivory tries to scramble out of the bath.

Shadow huffs, taking his shoes and socks off, climbing into the tap end of the bath and trying to wash ivory with one hand while Keeping him in the bath with the other. 

Ivory chitters , splashing shadow in an attempt to get free.

Shadow sighs, most of the goo is washed off ivory at this point, he lets go of ivory who immediately jumps out of the bath .

Shadow pulls the plug, standing up to shower, washing the sea water from his fur, keeping an eye on ivory who has laid down on the bath mat .

Shadow turns off the shower,stepping out and grabbing a soft towel and trying to towel dry ivory.

Ivory chitters, wiggling towards the door, shadow tries to keep hold of him.

Mephilis opens the door, laughing at shadow struggling to dry ivory.

Shadow chuckles "help me mephilis, i need to get shoes on him at least"

Mephilis summons a pair of shoes , simple ones just until ivory decides what sort of shoes he wants and attempts to put the shoes on his sons clawed feet.

After a few minutes of struggling they manage to get shoes on ivory. Who stands up trying to shake the shoes off with every step.  
After a few seconds the shoes they struggled so hard to put on, are off and thrown across the room 

Shadow looks at mephilis sighing "guess he doesn't have to wear shoes ..."

Mephilis nods "we really need to reasearch how to look after a child... should we go to Chuck for help?"

Shadow yawns "after the party tomorrow, ive got an early start "

Ivory chitters, climbing onto their bed curling up and falling asleep. 

Shadow and mephilis get into bed, cuddling together as they fall asleep


	17. Boom Amy's birthday*

Shadow wakes up to his communicator's alarm going off, silencing it and looking at the time. 6:30am. 

He climbs out of bed, brushing through his quills, walking over to his wardrobe and putting on the red Hawaiian shirt. He then walks over to ivory and carefully wakes him up.  
Ivory mutters half asleep "i..vwy"

Shadow gasps slightly, "did you speak? "

Ivory opens his eyes , chittering out "ivowy " grinning happily 

Shadow picks up ivory brushing through ivorys white quills with his comb.  
Ivory chitters looking in the mirror. 

Shadow takes ivory's hand leading him out into the city towards the portal hub.

They meet up with scourge, boom knuckles, julie-su and boom sonic. 

Boom sonic looks at ivory as he approaches "is it me or does he look more... advanced since yesterday?"

Shadow nods slightly "its as if he grows mentally and physically at an advanced rate"

Ivory chirps happily "ivowwy"

Boom sonic smiles, patting them on the head.

Shadow chuckles, "shall we go then?"

Ivory drags shadow towards the portal when it opens. Boom sonic,scourge, julie-su and boom knuckles follow behind .

Shadow holds ivory's hand as they step out into the village 

Boom sonic leads them to a large table in the village.

The village is properly decorated with pink and purple balloons and ribbons suited for their pink hedgehog birthday.

The floor is littered with streamers and biodegradable glitter. Boom sonic chuckles "ill be back in a second "

Scourge chuckles slightly before heading off to find a seat.

He runs off presumably thinking he's completely out of sight. Shadow can see his boom counterpart leaning against a tree .  
Shadow watches as the two tall hedgehogs exchange a quick chaste kiss before the two walk over .

Boom shadow crosses his arms, looking disapprovingly at shadow. Ivory looks up at shadow and then at boom shadow, chirping excitedly. 

Boom shadow grimaces slightly "vile creature "

Ivory whimpers slightly, hiding behind shadow . Boom sonic sighs "shads... what was my one rule"

Boom shadow rolls his eyes, crossing his arms "not to upset anyone... but that thing... if its a hedgehog, its an insult to all hedgehog kind"

Shadow growls at his counterpart " i don't care who you think you are but insult my child one more time and youre going to sleep for a while "

Boom shadow huffs slightly "your child? Look how pathetic it is it can't even talk "

Ivory growls at boom shadow, shark teeth dripping with goo.  
Shadow crosses his arms "i think he's pretty advanced for someone who's barely two days old. He could walk within minutes "

Boom shadow looks at the white hedgehog "even so, its unnatural, look at it"

Shadow chuckles "well he is half god, id expect some parts of him to look unnatural "

Boom shadow exhales sharply through his nose "not even a pure hedgehog.. typical "

Shadow chuckles "you're not either "

Boom shadow growls stepping closer to shadow "what are you implying, i am the ultimate lifeform, i am perfection "

Shadow smirks "and , your half alien. Half black arms, not that you'll know what they are. All i will say is that they are the most disgusting creatures ive had the displeasure of finding im related to. "

Boom shadow growls going to punch shadow, ivory hiding behind his dad.

Boom sonic quickly pulls ivory out of the way as boom shadow spindashes into shadow .

Shadow easily deflects him , charging himself up "chaos spear " shadow fires spears of golden chaos energy at boom shadow 

Boom tails walks over, "if you two are going to fight can you not disrupt our entire party please "

Shadow chuckles "look after ivory while im gone, i have my honour to defend"  
Shadow jumps up , throwing boom shadow in the air, before quickly backflipping and launching himself off a roof to slam boom shadow into the floor in the distance. 

Boom knuckles looks at julie-su as she laughs "hmm?"  
She smiles, trying to control her laughter "thats pretty much exactly what I expected from two shadows meeting each other "

Boom Knuckles smiles at Julie, leading her over to say hi to Boom Tails. 

Boom Tails and Boom Metal is holding an extraordinary large cake, decorated with pink roses made of icing.

Boom Tails is struggling to find the 'perfect' place for it on the table, Boom Metal is holding the cake waiting patiently.

"What ya doing guys?" yelled Boom Knuckles.

This clearly startled the duo as Metal flies into the air almost dropping the cake and Tails let out a yelp.

"Stay back Knuckles! Don't hurt the cake" cried the panicked and paranoid fox using his body to defend the table.

Boom Knuckles ignores the fox and looksat the table, he delicately moves a couple of items around to open a space for the large cake.

Metal lowers down to surface and places the cake down on the table.

"That looks great Tails, did you bake that yourself?" Boom Knuckles asks

Boom Tails shakes his head "actually it was all Metal really"

In a synthetic voice Boom Metal corrects the young kitsune "we baked it together..."

"Metals being modest, he loves baking. I swear he'll fry his CPU processing new recipes and designs" Tails' voice is much more chipper than usual.

"I wanted you guys to meet Julie-su" Boom Knuckles introduces Julie to meet with the two-tailed fox and his bf robot.

Julie smiles, bowing her head politely to the two "nice to finally meet you two, knux was rather excited to introduce me to you "

Boom tails smiles "i did think knux was joking when he said he was dating someone, but you two are just perfect for each other "

Boom knuckles smiles, scratching the back of his head slightly "so you two finally official?"

Boom metal chuckles "of course, after the whole town practically found out we simply had to make an announcement "

Julie smirks , remembering hearing stories about such things. 

Their attention is drawn back to shadow walking back with boom shadow thrown over his shoulder. Shadow carefully sets his counterpart onto his feet, before stepping back to give the other space.

Boom shadow huffs, crossing his arms "fine , your child is acceptable i guess"

Shadow chuckles slightly, shrugging "good enough, shall we finish the preparations?"

Scourge runs up to them "amy incoming , get in positions," before running off to inform boom sonic. 

Shadow chuckles as ivory runs up to him , cautiously reaching a clawed hand out to boom shadow who huffs before offering a handshake. 

Ivory chitters, shaking boom shadows hand , giving him a toothy smile. Boom shadow shudders , forcing himself to smile at the white hedgehog. 

Scourge huffs "guys get hidden, she's almost here"

Shadow pulls ivory under the hedge with him . Watching as boom shadow crawls under next to him.

Boom Amy walks up to the table, looking around for anyone.  
"Is there anyone here? Did i come early?"

Amy hears a twig snap behind her, she turns to look at it . Everyone jumps out of hiding "Surprise!"

A dozen streamers are fired into the air .  
Boom knuckles lifts amy onto his shoulder, as everyone crowds around her. Shadow pushes boom shadow out of the hedge, chuckling as boom shadow growls folding his arms.

Shadow helps ivory out of the hedge and smiles as ivory waves a bit of paper that vaguely looks like it says "happy birthday amy" with a pink stick figure next to it.

Scourge edges closer to the cake, tempted to eat some icing but is quickly shut down with a glare from boom tails. 

Shadow smiles at boom sonic, pushing boom shadow to be part of the celebrations. Boom shadow grimaces, steam practically erupting from him as a pink streamer lands on his head. 

Boom knuckles puts amy back on the floor, as ivory runs up to her giving her a tight hug. 

Amy pats the white hedgehogs head "aww hello cutie , whats your name "

Ivory chitters happily "ivowy" he hands the paper to amy who smiles and puts it in her pocket. 

Shadow chuckles, walking up to ivory and ruffling his head quills "i see you've met my kid, happy birthday amy "

Amy smiles at him "he's adorable, how old is he ?"

Shadow chuckles slightly "almost two days old"

Amy raises an eyebrow "are you joking? Hes so advanced "

Shadow ruffles ivory's quills "no joke, he's only been here since yesterday "

Ivory chitters happily motioning that he is going to be with scourge, shadow nods letting ivory run off.

Boom Amy chuckles slightly "i never thought id be stood having a conversation with any version of shadow "

Shadow chuckles, taking a drink as boom sonic offers him "i don't know about any other dimensions like yours, I've seen a few versions of me and they usually range from sad to angry , ive been through too much to be like that anymore. And your shadow, well he seems more on the angry side . I just can't tell his past... "

Amy shrugs "he just turned up one day , none of us have been able to ask him" she takes a drink from boom sonic, sipping it gently. 

Shadow glances over at boom knuckles and julie-su chatting together, both looking happily into the others eyes.

Amy glances over at the two echidnas "oh? I remember Knuckles telling me that he'd got a girlfriend, i didn't think she'd be so ... pretty and dainty"

Shadow chuckles slightly "don't let her hear you say that, she's a trained warrior pretty sure she could easily overpower him "

Amy smirks looking at the pink echidna "oh i don't doubt that "

Shadow chuckles slightly "don't let me keep you from talking to everyone oh and" he leans forward whispering to her "if you hug the other shadow, press gently between his shoulder blades ... don't tell him i told you"

Amy nods walking over to boom sonic and boom shadow. 

Boom sonic nudges boom shadow who huffs before forcing a smile and speaking "happy birthday amy" 

Amy smiles "thankyou shadow " she gives him a hug, to which he looks disgusted , before looking slightly surprised as amy presses a hand discreetly into his back. He thinks to himself that its likely a coincidence that she did it and he will spare her from a painful demise. But the wave of relaxation from the pressure washes over him, forcing him to close his eyes slightly, as he struggles to get out of the hug.

Boom sonic chuckles before realising he's next to be hugged. Amy releases boom shadow and immediately pulls boom sonic into a hug "glad you haven't run off to annoy eggman this year sonic "

Boom sonic smiles "happy birthday amy , and last year it was important "

Amy rolls her eyes "sure it was "

Boom sonic glances at boom shadow who is trying to steady himself , taking deep breaths "what did you do to him?"

Amy shrugs, releasing boom sonic from the hug "i just hugged him, I think I broke him"

Boom shadow growls at her but glances up as a portal opens nearby. Mephilis walks out of the portal chuckling slightly as he sees boom shadow get pulled into a hug with boom sonic by amy. Both the hedgehogs looking uncomfortable. 

Mephilis walks over to ivory, and smiles at shadow "mind me taking him for a while, i have a few things to test"

Boom shadow, seemingly hoping for another fight ,approaches and growls at mephilis. 

Ivory chitters, jumping at boom shadow and sinking his teeth into boom shadows arm, before releasing him and hopping into mephilis arms .

Mephilis chuckles slightly and portals away with ivory. 

Boom shadow growls "it bit me! Ill punish you for that " he goes to punch shadow, who is prepared to block him but boom shadow falls to the floor. 

Scourge chuckles walking over, dipping his finger in the goop covering boom shadows arm , everyone else crowds round boom shadow who looks like he's struggling to breathe, tongue lulled slightly from his mouth. 

Amy looks at Boom Shadow excited "is he dying?- I I mean Oh no... Is he dying?"

Scourge tastes a bit of a goo , boom sonic going to stop him but then seeing he's fine .

Boom sonic looks at scourge "well.?"

Scourge laughs "he's not poisoned, just uhh , well this stuffs stronger than anything ive made he's likely high off his ass and .... wow rhis stuffs a hallucinogen.... Ill keep an eye on him"

Scourge helps boom shadow up to his feet, using a wing to stabilise him . 

Shadow wipes the goo into a vial , looking at it before trying to wash the rest off of his boom counterparts arm .

Boom shadow mutters "thank you green parrot "

Scourge chuckles slightly "go on get back to your partying "

Everyone goes to continue partying except for boom sonic who sits next to scourge "is he okay?"

Scourge chuckles slightly "well im gonna assume he's never drank alcohol yet alone taken anything like this before "

Boom sonic shakes his head "we were planning on getting him to try some drinks tonight, when we move the party to my place "

Scourge smirks, "still can, this stuffs not long lasting , even less with what little magic i have, he will just be a bit well how do I put it.... coerceable for a while. "

Boom shadow shifts slightly curling up against scourge who absentmindedly pets boom shadows spines. Boom sonic looks concerned, looking at boom shadows half closed eyes , and surprisingly peaceful expression on his face. Scourge chuckles slightly "im gonna give him a quick bit of help" his hand glowing gold as he removes the last effects of the goo from boom shadows body.  
Boom shadow growls slightly, closing his eyes. 

Scourge chuckles "go help amy divide the cake between us , ill quickly take him away from the table for a bit "

Scourge helps boom shadow to his feet, quickly grabbing a glass of water on the way, helping him over towards a tree .  
Boom shadow leans against the tree, heaving , as his body tries purging the last of the goo's effect.

Scourge spreads a wing to shield him from anyone looking at him. 

Boom shadow coughs up what little food he ate that day , scourge gives him the water, letting him wash out his mouth, and drink the rest .

Scourge pats boom shadow on the shoulder "better?"

Boom shadow growls , glancing at the wing shielding him from everyone else , he huffs slightly " i suppose I should show some appreciation " 

Scourge smirks "you're welcome "

Boom shadow goes to take a step but even though his mind has cleared his body still feels heavy 

Scourge pulls the wing around boom shadow, who growls slightly before reluctantly accepting the help . Scourge helps boom shadow back to the table, passing him another glass of water which boom shadow takes, sipping it slowly. 

Scourge chuckles slightly "im assuming you've never taken anything like that before "

Boom shadow huffs ,

Scourge smirks "and you've probably never drank alcohol either "

Boom shadow growls slightly "if its anything like that then i never will "

Scourge chuckles "oh nothing as strong as that, just try some tonight . Any time you want it gone i can get rid of it"

Boom shadow sighs "fine. But im not doing it for anyone, im doing it because I want to " 

Scourge nods leaving it at that "i think your sonic was worried about you " 

Boom shadow huffs, smirking "that would be just like him wouldn't it . Where's he now"

Scourge glances over at boom sonic and amy chatting and cutting the cake into slices. "Chatting with amy, i told him to chat with her, figured the less people who saw you like that the better "

Boom shadow half nods . Scourge sighs "you've never visited our dimension have you?"

Boom shadow huffs " why would I visit your vile dimension "

Scourge shrugs " hey , whatever you do for fun i garuntee we have it"

Boom shadow chuckles slightly "i doubt it, and if you think ill tell you what it is you're wrong "

Scourge smirks in response "well theres plenty of Sonics, always up for a fight. One who needs to get his anger out so we don't have another incident with him "

Boom shadow huffs, folding his arms "if you think my only interest is pushing Sonics face into the ground, then you're mistaken "

Scourge chuckles slightly "i always found it fun, but yet again back then I was still only a boring sonic myself . But your idea of overpowering a sonic might be different from mine " scourge smirks knowingly. 

Boom shadow growls, baring his teeth "that idiot , i swore if anyone found out i would take pleasure in killing him " 

Scourge chuckles loudly "he's kept it quiet, as far as i know nobody except me knows, and if my shadow knows hes not one to tell. "

Boom shadow continues growling loudly "if he didn't tell you, how do you know "

Scourge activates his void sight, letting the inky black fill his eyes "lets just say i see more than most people, past and future "

Boom shadow huffs "you're an abomination, not even a hedgehog "

Scourge grins "aww what a nice compliment, i was just a boring hedgehog once, now look at me, mutated from radiation and chaos energy to the handsome green hedgehog you see before you "

Boom shadow huffs shaking his head, then glancing over at boom tails who walks over placing two plates of cake in front of the two hedgehogs.  
Boom tails grins "glad to see you two getting along"

Scourge chuckles "we're not getting along, we've exchanged physical fighting for verbal fighting "

Boom tails sighs "why did i ever think shads would make a friend " he walks away shaking his head.  
Scourge smirks "you're welcome, I'd have doubted you'd want anyone to think you're sat here having a nice conversation with someone "

Boom shadow grumbles " dont let the door hit you on the way out" under his breath, before sighing "know when we're going to Sonics house?"

Scourge glances over at amy who is waving goodbye to some villagers. "Likely soon, why?"

Boom shadow huffs, crossing his arms, not replying 

Scourge huffs in response, copying him "you gonna eat your cake?"

Boom shadow glances at the cake, "and engross myself with this pink monstrosity? ... if course I will "

Scourge takes a forkfull of cake cautiously trying it, finding that its extremely nice.

Boom shadow tries the cake, each mouthful feeling heavy in his empty stomach  
"Metals not that bad of a cook"

Scourge chuckles , agreeing. 

Boom shadow glances over as amy approaches them, quickly pretending he's uninterested in the cake. "If i am to stay at your party , you could have at least given me a good cake"

Amy puts a hand on her hip "so where is half the cake you dislike so much"

Scourge chuckles slightly, finishing his portion "cakes great , but ill never eat something that pink ever again "

Amy chuckles slightly "cmon we're heading to Sonics, ive decided that we're all gonna get drunk today , seeing that sonic refuses to drink any other time"

Boom shadow huffs, quickly shoving another forkfull of cake into his mouth, then getting off his chair .  
Scourge follows the two to the rest of the group as boom knuckles and julie-su say goodbye to amy .

Amy looks at boom knuckles "aren't you staying?" 

Boom knuckles chuckles slightly "uhh me and julie have something to do back home, but we hope the rest of your party is amazing "

Amy nods "stay safe you two, i mean it"

Boom knuckles activates his communicator, pressing a button to open a portal back to the master emerald. 

Amy waves at them as the two echidnas step through. 

Boom sonic chuckles at everyone "back to mine? Try not to trash the place "

They follow him to his house , scourge looking at the many cans and bottles of alcohol set up for the party.

Boom sonic shrugs " shall we get started?"

Scourge pours out a glass for everyone, handing them out .  
Boom sonic smiles raising his glass "people normally do a toast don't they... well Here’s a toast to you amy on your birthday! "  
Sonic clinks his glass off everyone else's, then sips it .

Scourge nods to boom shadow "go on , try it"

Boom shadow glances at shadow opposite him in the room , as he has quickly drank the glass and has moved onto the rest of the bottle , he looks at the amber liquid in his glass. Scourge sips his drink, sprinkling a blue dust into it when nobody's looking .

Boom shadow huffs, sipping the drink, feeling the warmth of it flow through him, a pleasurable feeling throughout his body.

Boom shadow goes to drink more but finds his glass empty.  
Scourge chuckles, pouring a refill into boom shadows glass.

Boom shadow downs the second glass quickly, enjoying the warmth he feels . 

Scourge chuckles "you might want to slow down a little "

Boom shadow finds himself grinning "when i f-feel so good? " he sways slightly motioning for scourge to give him more to drink. Scourge sighs pouring another glass for him.

Scourge looks at amy who is swaying slightly, chatting to shadow and boom tails.  
Scourge looks back at boom shadow as he gets pulled close to the clearly drunk hedgehog. Scourge feels the arm around his shoulders tighten , boom shadow tilting his head in an abnormal way "y..you know what i like a-.. about you?"

Scourge raises an eyebrow, sipping his drink. 

Boom shadow moves his hand to rest on scourges shoulder "i... i just .... w'da.. like.. your mystic- mystical chaoss" drawing out his words 

Scourge chuckles slightly "nothing mystical..im just mentally ill..."

Boom shadow places a hand on each of scourges cheeks, squinting into scourges blue eyes "nnnnnope... juuust myssstical"

Scourge chuckles slightly, leaning back as boom shadow moves his hands away. Muttering to himself "say that to zonic, he says i need therapy "

Boom shadow stands up, stumbling over to boom sonic and hugging him from behind. 

Boom sonic looks at him "shads you're awfully cuddly all of a sudden "

Boom shadow flips boom sonic and pushes him against a wall , holding him there by a hand on his neck.

Amy prepares to break up the inevitable fight but gasps slightly. Scourge chuckles and starts recording. 

Boom shadow kisses boom sonic, tongue flicking out against boom sonic's lips . As boom sonic allows the kiss to deepen boom shadow moves his hand from boom Sonics throat to gripping his head spines. 

Amy chuckles slightly watching the two .

Boom sonic lets out a muffled moan as boom shadow's tongue fights his for dominance. Boom shadow running his other hand down boom sonic's back making the blue hedgehog purr out a moan."a-ah shads"

Scourge chuckles to himself "well if he didn't want anyone to know he's doing a bad job at it"

Boom shadow pulls sonic away from the wall, pushing him onto the couch next to amy. Then pouncing on him ,straddling boom Sonics legs .  
Boom sonic whos a little less drunk than boom shadow glances at amy before looking at boom shadow "hey shads you sure you want to do this here?"

Boom shadow growls, grinding against boom sonic. 

Scourge walks over to shadow who's watching his boom counterpart basically hump boom Sonics legs. Shadow glances at scourge "and here i thought we'd have a normal party without two people boning like horny teenagers "  
Scourge rolls his eyes "well boom sonics always like 'dont fuck people' all the time . Its funny that he's the one getting fucked "

Boom sonic blushes slightly, unable to hide his arousal , dick unsheathing slightly as boom shadow growls grinding against him.

Boom tails glances at boom metal purring as he approaches. Scourge chuckles slightly "well guess we're watching two couples then "

Amy continues drinking, glancing subtly at boom Sonics body and now erect dick. 

Boom sonic moans softly as boom shadow's dick slowly unsheaths , rubbing against his. 

Boom shadow huffs slightly, grinding his dick against boom sonic's. 

Boom sonic purrs as boom shadow moves up his body, erection now placed before boom Sonics mouth.

Boom sonic obediently opens his mouth, letting the dark hedgehogs erection slide inside. 

Boom shadow growls, gripping the sides of boom Sonics face and thrusting into him.

Amy purrs subconsciously as she watches boom sonic get face-fucked by the dark hedgehog, enjoying the muffled moans boom sonic is making and the deep growling moans of boom shadow.  
Amy moves a hand down to her thigh, drumming her fingers against her pink fur watching as boom Sonics mouth is filled with boom shadows cock.

Boom sonic moans deeply, his cock twitching leaking pre-cum , amy moves her hand down touching her dampness soaking through her panties.  
She takes her gloves off, sliding her fingers back to touch her wetness, feeling her own arousal at the sight in front of her. 

Boom shadow growls, thrusting erratically into boom sonics mouth before tilting his head back in pleasure. He pushes deep into boom Sonics mouth and quickly pulls out as he cums, leaving a trail of cum from inside boom sonic's mouth down his chin and neck.

Amy looks at him covered in cum, sighing slightly, slightly moving her hand out from up her skirt before glancing at boom metal nuzzling with boom tails.  
She sighs looking at scourge who is slowly stroking his dick with his eyes closed. Then moves her hand to rest on her thigh.

Scourge opens his eyes "hey sonic do you have a bathroom "

Boom sonic looks at him "no theres a bush outside and a tap in here why?"

Scourge huffs slightly "well id hate to aa-ah make a mess~" he purrs 

Boom sonic chuckles "some mess was inevitable with this much alcohol "

Scourge chuckles, grabbing his empty glass and cumming into it.

Boom shadow moves to sit between scourge and shadow, half closing his eyes 

Scourge chuckles closing his eyes relaxing against the cushions behind him. 

Boom sonic walks over to his sink, washing his face in it , before turning to the others "you're welcome to stay over, Amy's getting my hammock its about the only comfortable place to sleep in here"

Amy chuckles, tipsily climbing to lay in the hammock "before anyone thinks of getting in here before me"

Boom shadow snores slightly his eyes still slightly open, asif even asleep he is watching, ready for a fight.

Scourge moves boom shadow slightly so both he and shadow can lean against the taller hedgehog to sleep.

Boom sonic lays down on his rug staying off the cold floor.

Boom tails curls up , resting his head on his tails and slowly getting spooned by boom metal.


	18. Gone dark.

Shadow wakes up as iblis portals into boom Sonics house. Iblis runs up to shadow only to get tackled to the floor by a suddenly awake boom shadow. 

Iblis sighs picking boom shadow up by the scruff of his neck and holding him off the floor as he gets up. "Scourge, shads ... we need you back right now, blue's gone rogue"

Scourge opens his eyes, revealing that he's already awake "rogue?"

Boom shadow stops squirming in iblis grip, and iblis releases him. Iblis nods at scourge "he has barricaded himself in the hangout room, consceleratus ... corrupt "

Shadow and scourge both quickly stand up walking over to iblis. 

Iblis points at boom shadow "tell the others that these two had to leave due to a class 5 emergency "

Shadow glances at iblis "class five? Isn't that uncontrollable chaos enhanced being?"

Iblis nods "finitevus said blue's practically radiating pure chaos energy "

Shadow huffs in concern "well lets get to it!"

Iblis opens a portal and the three step through. 

They arrive in the corridor outside the hangout room, everyone is waiting for blue to try and escape the room he's barricaded himself in .

Tails huffs "shadow, scourge, you two took your time"

Scourge chuckles slightly. "So whats happened?"

Sally rolls her eyes sighing "blue this morning was ranting about how everyone treats him as less of a sonic than you and sonic ... he wanted me to join him to become " she air quotes "overlords of this pitiful world "

Scourge hums in thought "couldn't me and sonic use the chaos neutraliser gun?"

Tails growls slightly, spitting out "YOU and sonic?" 

Sonic interjects "well we could do that. ... buuut i don't think we should be discussing it in front of...such company"

Eggman sighs looking at finitevus"no point keeping it hidden from finitiveus now... the chaos neutraliser is a weapon we built to destroy you should you become a threat to us"

Finitevus laughs slightly, a somewhat warm sound coming from the echidna "i would have been insulted if you hadn't created something to kill me"

Eggman nods , looking back at scourge "it wouldn't work on blue, it fires super-charged positive chaos energy... they will only make blue more powerful "

Knuckles growls, hovering off of boom knuckles shoulder "even so? You would want to kill our friend? He may have threatened our lives but we can't threaten his"

Scourge looks at knuckles "whats with this sudden reaction? We would never betray a friend "

Tails huffs speaking with a tinge of sarcasm "noo, no friend here has seen any betrayal "

Sonic shouts "tails will you shut up, we're talking about important things "

Blue speaks through the barricade , voice unnatural and breathy "i resspect you tails, i listen toooo yooouuu. Both you and your children should join me, we can shhhhow them how powerful we can beeeee when we wooork togethhhherr" 

Tails makes eye contact with blue, looking into blue's eyes, realising he's in his super form. "A-are you sure about this?"

Blue moves to offer a hand through the hole in the barricade . Golden energy crackling off his gloves "i neeed you. Your mind, your intelligence, yooouur friendship.... "

"B-but I am needed elsewhere... Silver, the city, Sonic and our friends" Tails is hiding behind his tails uncomfortably trying to make a morale decision.

"You don't think Soooonic is actuallly yoooouuur friend do you?, I heard him talking about you to Scourge late at night when they think no one is listening" Blue grins

"R-really, wh- what do they say?" Asked the small and shaking kitsune wide eyed looking at the golden and terrifying visage of a version of his best friend.

"Theeyyy talk about you being goood for nothing... worthless and useless toooo our city.. that they don't neeed you, that you're nowhere near as smart as chuck ooor Robotnik... A failure!"

Blue can no longer hold back the frightening chuckle as he peers at the broken fox under him.

Tails' pupils was as small as the end of a needle, the shaking hands holding onto his heart as if he was recovering from a stab wound. His balance fails him as the whole world spins he falls on what feels like shifting glass.

Tails cries out as his whole belief system is shocked, everything he believed as fact is tarnished and the only person he can look to reaching out a hand... is Blue.

"I'll help you" Tails takes the outstretched hand of the golden hedgehog.

Sonic yells out "no he's lying!" However in Tails' state he was in a void on his own... on his own with it looking after him.

Tails steps through the barricade asif it were an illusion. Cub looks back at everyone before running up to the barricade "blue ill join you "

Blue takes cubs hand letting him through, cub looks at Ginger "c'mon Ginger, lets go with dad"

Ginger steps back, huddling against silver "no. I wont follow him, my family is everyone ..."

Cub bares his teeth, before stepping through the barricade. 

Blue laughs from inside the room , pressing his face against a hole the in barricade "sally. Laaaast chance, come with mee and I might spaare your life"

Sally steps forward, with all the hatred and scorn she can muster practically hissing out at him "never."

Blue steps back "fine. Ill enjoy the loooook on your face as i eeeevisceeerate you" blue spits in Sally's direction before taking cub and Tails' hands leading them to the window. 

Blue pulls them through the window asif it were air and flies off into the distance. 

After the three leave the rest of the room face different reactions. Scourge and Sonic feel a mixture of anger, guilt and betrayal. Sally falls on her knees from helplessness. 

Antoine looks at Bunnie before glancing at the barricade, then at sally, reasuringly placing a hand on her shoulder "i.. i never thought zat of all ze people..."

Chuck shakes his head slightly, looking down at the floor trying to make excuses for blue's actions.."my sonic... he's corrupt right now, we've got to help him". scourge pats chuck gently on one shoulder, and eggman pats the other comforting him slightly. 

Shadow looks at silver who almost looks on the verge of tears, then at where tails was stood. Silently crossing his arms, deep in thought. 

Metal looks at the barricade, thinking to himself 'maybe all Tails' anger at sonic wasn't just from the phantom ruby... did we overlook him that much?'

Iblis looks at silver and at Ginger before walking up to the barricade and after a small struggle, toppling it.

Boom knuckles is in shock, dumbfounded from everything that has happened. 

Ginger hugs silver, glancing back at where his other dad and his brother were stood.  
Silver growls slightly "what are all you doing, go after them!"

Mephilis shakes his head "going after him is too risky, we need to plan if we are going to get them back. "

Finitevus crosses his arms, blues actions reminding him of his own past actions... a small realisation of how much his moral compass has shifted by living here.

Knuckles looks at the window, mind racing . Thinking of every time he's been disregarded. But bottling those thoughts away in favour of silently hovering. 

Sally sighs, "i... i can't believe how quickly tails was madw to look so small... so broken... "  
Sally stands up.  
Bunnie looks at her "blue's manipulatin him, usin his emotions ta make tails obay him"  
Sally nods, already knowing that. 

Boom knuckles helps iblis move the furniture making up the barricade back to the correct positions, finitevus walks up helping them move the large sofa by lifting it with magic. 

Iblis walks up to silver, shifting his plates to cover any opening for water to get in , and pulls silver into a hug .  
Silver sighs accepting the warm hug, at first not reciprocating, just standing there, head hung slightly as he is hugged. 

Silver smiles weakly, sobbing slightly "th-thanks ibbs"  
Iblis pats silver gently on his back "its alright... we will get him back "

Boom taps finitevus on the shoulder "i... i don't understand what happened..."

Finitevus nods, crossing his arms "blue is using a mixture of gaslighting and manipulative techniques, convincing your fox friend that blue was the only choice. Its rather an effective technique for complete obedience from the target if you don't mind the target completely emotionally broken that is"

Boom knuckles nods, understanding slightly what happened, master emerald deciphering the rest into words he actually knows the meaning of. "H-how do you know all this?"

Finitevus sighs.  
Knuckles interrupts "how do you think. He's a sociopath he's done it all before "

Finitevus huffs slightly at the interruption "i admit that in the past i have done such things. I used these tactics to achieve a goal or two. But now I have... well.. shifted my morals, i am above such crude methods now."

Knuckles huffs, curling his tentacles "blue sensed weakness, if he had chosen anyone else his plan would have failed "

Iblis growls, shouting " and you would fare better? We all have our demons . Any of us could have been in his place"

Ivory chitters at the shouting, covering its ears.

Knuckles shouts "really? Tails was the only person here pining for others attention. The rest of us are fine living independently, we would not be so easily manipulated "

Sonic interjects "he wasn't pining for any attention "

Metal looks at his husband "you know that knuckles has a point. Tails has needed you to be there for him, hes been needing your friendship for years . Your approval meant so much to him, he looked up to you "

Sonic shakes his head slightly "is that why he always tried to compete with scourge, i just dismissed it "

Knuckles growls "tails is 250 odd years old like us sonic, he has an excuse, or perhaps it was really just his choice. Perhaps he could see the corruption thats begun here."

"Master." Boom knuckles tries to interject to de-escalate the argument. 

"Dont master me! And you're no guardian. You disregard the master emeralds guidance in favour of that albino . You've corrupted its power with your heresy. "

Boom knuckles looks slightly at the floor, has his conversations with finitevus really corrupted the master emerald, after all the previous guardian would know.

Finitevus growls slightly "I'll not have you speak to the guardian in that way. Ill have you know that i have not touched the master emerald since i became enerjak and I have never had any negative impact on the purity of the emerald "

Boom knuckles nods "in fact the emerald feels healthy , happy. Its speaking to me stronger than it was ever before "

Knuckles lifts his tentacles. Antoine steps forward, hand on the hilt of his sword "knuckles, i think zat it is time for you to leave , we have had your rudeness for too long. You can return ven you have calmed yourzelf down"  
Shadow finds himself grinning at Antoine, proud of his boy, then glancing at ivory who runs over to Antoine's side chittering angrily at knuckles. 

Knuckles lowers his tentacles slightly. "Hruph suit yourself " he swiftly leaves.

Ivory chitters, walking back and forth before walking up to shadow and nuzzling against him.

Scourge huffs "cmon lets collect ourselves before we think of making any rash decisions "

Scourge guides chuck to sit on the sofa, finitevus quickly walking to pour the elderly hedgehog a cup of tea. 

Chuck sighs "sorry sonny green, i... i can't believe I couldn't see the signs that my boy had gotten like that " .  
Scourge reassuringly places a hand on chucks shoulder "none of us could chuck, we never thought he'd go like this" 

Shadow mutters "blue snapped because of those fucking drugs silver deals him"

Silver growls jabbing a finger into shadows chest "him taking that stuff is probably what kept him placid for so long, we would have been more unprepared if he didn't take them"

Shadow growls , on the verge of punching silver "yeah? So why did he snap now?"

Silver mutters "i haven't sold to him for months .."

Shadow huffs stepping back . Sonic pushes between the two, "you two, fighting isn't going to help us get them back, and fix whatever caused this."

Silver huffs slightly walking over to iblis and Ginger and trying to calm himself down .

Finitevus hands the tea to chuck , sitting down next to the elderly hedgehog . Chuck nods slightly, trying to give finitevus a thankful smile. 

Sonic looks at finitevus silently thanking him.

Finitevus places a hand on chucks shoulder. Chuck nods, looking at finitevus' still un-bandaged hands feeling how cold the echidnas hands are even through his fur.

Eggman nods, finally speaking "we can have a satellite try and track blue... find where he's keeping them"

Everyone's attention is drawn to the archives platform as it awakens. 

The platform speaks "host. Please return to the ship, 2 biological units are missing "

Scourge throws open the window, "sonic fill me in when I get back "  
Sonic stands up "what if its blue? Im coming with "

Scourge climbs into the window frame and jumps out quickly flying over to the ship.  
Sonic steps into the window and jumps out, plummeting a meter or so before flying off after scourge.

Scourge glides over the mossy ship , landing by a smoking hole in its side. And a trail of debris leading inside  
As they step in the ship begins repairing itself . Scourge gasps looking at the wall, noticing the two dead bodies are ones created with his biological data.  
Their bodies not exactly hedgehog shaped but their green fur highlights obviously inherited from scourge. 

But whatever life they had is long gone. Their bodies dismembered, limbs arranged around their bodies, still covered in the goo of their eggs. 

Scourge walks over to the bodies, looking at the message written in their blood 'YOU'RE NEXT'

Sonic walks up to one of the bodies accessing their last few seconds of life and watching them.. "it was blue... just as we thought "

Scourge nods, looking at the two bodies and then at sonic "why me? That one in the egg over there has a more blue-green colouring ... id have thought he'd hate you more than anyone "

Sonic looks at the dead bodies "im unsure... but... reckon he killed one and ran out of blood to write with and had to kill a second or... he killed both and hoped it was enough blood?"

Scourge chuckles slightly "he probably killed both and the threat was an afterthought "

Sonic chuckles before sighing "cmon we gotta get back to tell the others "

Scourge and sonic leave the ship, quickly taking off and flying over the city back to the palace. Scourge sees knuckles lurking outside, nearby a dark alleyway , but disregards it.

They both land on the roof,skidding slightly on the stones of finitevus' temple . They both quickly run down to the hangout room. 

Chuck looks at them "was it blue?"

Scourge nods "he wrote some threat, apparently im next"

Sally looks at him "you? What did you do to annoy him? "

Scourge shrugs "i don't know "

Silver growls slightly "its good that he's targeting you, if he shows his face here ill make him wish he was dead"

Ivory chitters, his fur pulsing red "calm... " he reaches up and places a hand on silver's face.  
Silver sighs taking a deep breath.  
Ivory nods , walking over to the screen, typing something in. The screen flicks to an area, flooded with oil ...

Eggman gasps slightly, "oil ocean?"

Ivory nods, pointing to one of eggmans old refineries.

Shadow looks at it , "what is it "

Ivory huffs , fur pulsating a dark gold , imitating that of blue's super form aand aggressively pointing at the building. 

\- Meanwhile, Inside Blue's Lair.

Blue paces back and forth, his super form dulled by his rage to a deep gold. He looks at tails as he drags a cage up to the wall. "Goooood, now place cub in it, keep an eye oooon him . If you're eeeveen capable of doing soooo"

Tails holds out his hand towards Cub, awaiting for him to hold him.

As Tails gingerly places his young child in the rusty and cramped cage he fakes a motherly smile at his boy but his eyes show no life in them.

Cub silently does as he is told, stepping into the cage, paying attention to not cut himself as he does as he stares into the dull eyes of his father.

"What's going to happen to us?" Cub asks barely louder than a mouse.

"W-we'll be fine... he's looking after us" Tails replies.

His previous bright orange-yellow fur now lost all saturation, his eyes that saw so much colour in the world of endless possibilities now seem empty, his voice croaks with every word.

Cub can barely recognize him "I want to go back home" rust now covering the fur of the helpless child.

"I- guess this is home..." Tails walks away.


	19. Super emeralds

Shadow looks at ivory "you sure they're there? "

Ivory nods, fur pulsating red . "Darkness ..."

Shadow nods "even though we know where they are... we can't approach there without a plan..."

..

Outside the window, knuckles is looking in, he knows the place on the screen. If these people are against him then he's against them. Knuckles looks at his tentacles , deciding. He's going to join blue.

Shadow glances out the window just as knuckles flies off . Vowing to keep an eye on knuckles "we should send out someone to keep an eye on knuckles... i know just the girl"

Shadow quickly types on his communicator... quickly getting a reply of ";) on my way"

Shadow smiles "she's on her way to oil ocean, we're assuming that knuckles has gone to speak with blue at least. If not speak just to look for him"

Eggman nods "yes , and if they do speak we can assume blue will somehow coerce knuckles into believing we're threatening the master emerald. Or he will be eliminated "

Finitevus nods, crossing his arms "we can then assume he wont be returning. "

Mephilis huffs in frustration "damn... we needed knuckles to help us reach sky sanctuary... we need the super emeralds "

Finitevus hums in thought " i don't quite know its location in this place but i can utilize the master emerald to guide me. How soon do you need to go?"

Mephilis shrugs "as soon as possible "

Finitevus nods, looking at boom knuckles "guardian, i may require your help communing with the master emerald in such a way"

Finitevus sits cross-legged on the floor with boom knuckles quickly taking his place facing him .

Boom knuckles nods, relaying finitevus chaos force to the master emerald. 

A few minutes pass in silence before boom knuckles stands up "and now to access the place "

Finitevus nods, flicking out a warp ring and standing up "we should limit who we take. Mephilis, sonic, boom knuckles and myself. We will return shortly with the super emeralds "  
Boom knuckles quickly puts on his exosuit , ready for anything.  
Sonic steps through first, the others following after him. They all gasp slightly as a large human-built orbital nuclear silo has crashed into the floating ruins. Its payload spilled across the lower ruins . Sonic gasps slightly, looking at the lights on one from a distance "anyone got a telescope?"

Mephilis summons one, handing it to sonic. 

Sonic looks through it at the nearest visible warhead "fuck... well want the bad news?"

Finitevus sighs "go on" already knowing what Sonics about to say.

Sonic hands the telescope back to mephilis "they're armed... both arming lights are on... they could blow any time"

Finitevus nods "well lets get the super emeralds quickly then"

Sonic nods, remembering the location, running and jumping towards a path of the ruin "follow me " he takes off from the path, flying in the direction of the sanctum, where the orbital station appears to have crashed into. 

Boom knuckles nods activating the wings of his exosuit, and finitevus and mephilis follow after. 

Sonic glides over to the large ship, glancing down at ground beneath the clouds that looks like nowhere on mobius hes seen before. 

Sonic carefully glides to the large sanctum, that once housed the master emerald. 

His wrist communicator clicks angrily as he approaches, he shouts to the others "radioactive, boom stay back "

Boom knuckles laughs, shouting back "exosuit is radiation shielded, ill be fine"

As sonic flies onto the ruins, looking down at the main section of the orbital platform, precariously balanced amongst the ruins.

Sonic sees one of the super emeralds laying amongst the debris, quickly jumping down to grab it .

Mephilis nods at him keeping and eye on the unstable ruins.

Sonic carefully walks over mangled metal and picks up the yellow super emerald, carefully holding onto it as finitevus activates a warp ring.  
Sonic carefully pushes the super emerald through the ring, transporting it down to angel island "one down... six to go"

Sonic goes to look for another, but a large shake resonates throughout the ruins, the ceiling crumbling slightly . Boom knuckles immediately runs down the slope to where sonic is, quickly sliding past him into a hole in the wall.  
Sonic goes to follow him but the ceiling falls and covers the hole, he runs up to the debris "boom? Are you okay?"

Boom knuckles shouts "stand back "

Sonic quickly runs out the way as boom knuckles punches the debris out of the way, a red super emerald tucked under his arm. "Saw it, wouldn't want it to get crushed..." 

Sonic nods "and it looks like there's one up there... why are they so scattered, they should have all been here?"

Finitevus steps up to them , activating a warp ring pushing the super emerald through.  
"Likely that the collision dislodged them from the shrines and they fell, we should check the lower levels "

Mephilis nods, quickly jumping down a hole in the floor , gripping hold of a ledge and swinging into the room below. "Two in here, shouldn't be hard to find the rest"

Mephilis floats back up, blue and green super emeralds in his hands. Finitevus takes them transporting them to the others .

Sonic nods "any sign of the others?"

Finitevus shakes his head "the other three must be inside the space station, lets hope it doesn't fall whilst we're inside "

Sonic nods, carefully jumping across a gap onto the main hull of the human-built space platform, walking up the steel ceramic hull to a large hole in the side with charring around it. 

Sonic jumps in, with the others following him 

The cyan super emerald is laying just inside the hole. 

Sonic picks it up . Finitevus looks around the room "be careful, this feels like a trap"

Sonic chuckles "if there was anything here we'd have seen it by now "

Sonic hands the emerald to mephilis, turning on the flashlight on his communicator. Sonic shines it around the dark room, spotting a trail of water flowing down a staircase "down here then, theres oil in this water though.. "

Mephilis spots a shiny puddle amongst the water, placing a finger in it, looking at its composition "nanites ... new ones... something's been in here.. and recently "

Sonic nods "whatever it is its not after the super emeralds, otherwise the ones outside would have been taken "

Boom knuckles nods "but can people reach here without the master emerald?"

Sonic nods "ive been here before a long time ago , came by plane"

Mephilis nods "theoretically anything could be here... but whatever it is its been near the city ..."

A pale purple glow draws Sonics attention, he quickly runs over retrieving the 6th super emerald. Finitevus quickly teleporting it away. 

Sonic looks worriedly as his communicator beeps angrily "large chaos energy hotspot incoming?... is it blue, is he tracking us?"

Finitevus reaches out with his power, feeling the distinctive anger and hatred of blue. "Unfortunately so... he likely knew we were coming for the super emeralds... and is hoping to get them before us"

Sonic chuckles "well he's too slow, 6 are already safe "

They hear a voice from across the corridor, and a recognisable magenta glow "too bad that I have the seventh. "

Sonic growls "neo, hand over the emerald "

Finitevus raises an eyebrow as the robot steps into the light. 

Neo laughs "i don't think i will sonic"

Finitevus chuckles "ah that robot, ive been meaning to dismantle you "

Finitevus is engulfed in a black glow , dashing forward and effortlessly slicing through neo's chassis. Finitevus huffs in victory, picking up the seventh super emerald and quickly throwing it through a warp ring.

Finitevus crosses his arms "well that was easy. "

Blue steps into the room, his supercharged red eyes slitlike , focused on sonic. 

Finitevus growls, going to attack blue , when neo behind him stands up again , nanites pulling his body together. 

Blue laughs "ah neo, perhaps a little ceeeasefireee between us ?"

Neo looks at the small super sonic, then thinks for a second. The humans were unwilling to be led by him , and perhaps the phantom ruby guiding him here was to give him a new ally . "Very well, i accept. Shall we dispose of these four?"

Blue grins , teeth sharp and dripdripping with saliva. "With pleasurree" he almost purrs at the end.  
Finitevus growls, quickly dashing at blue, his negative chaos energy clashing against blues.

Sonic looks to neo who is scuttling onto the ceiling, dropping down onto boom knuckles who quickly grabs neos front legs, the two pushing against each other, wrestling for any advantage. 

Sonic nods at mephilis, quickly running at neo and gripping onto neo.

Mephilis looks at finitevus, who is seemingly slowly overpowering blue and runs to help sonic and boom . Mephilis grabs neo's back legs, pulling on them.

Blue throws finitevus across the room, a slight crunch echoing around the room from the impact. Blue laughs "oh you are fuuun ! but playtimes over old man " blue levitates slightly off the floor, chaos energy sparking from his eyes . Finitevus groans in pain, quickly getting back up to his feet, just as blue fires a beam of energy from his eyes throwing finitevus back against the wall. 

Mephilis looks at blue approaching finitevus and quickly yanks on neos legs, before running over and tackling blue.

Finitevus groans, dragging himself over to neo.

Blue gets back up , grabbing mephilis and throwing him at the wall. Mephilis quickly halting mid-air and flying at blue.

Sonic plunges a hand into neo's thruster, pulling out vial cables, and boom knuckles bends neo's legs.

Finitevus huffs, getting back up, limping slightly before jumping onto neo, plunging a chaos charged punch into the phantom ruby set into neo's forehead. 

Neo stumbles, "you fool, i am not stopped so easily "

Neo powers up the phantom ruby "i do enjoy fun however " he pushes the power into blue, shifting his form slightly, his spines dissarayed , eyes whitening and the tips of his gloved fingers shifting into claws "

Finitevus grabs the attention of boom knuckles, sonic and mephilis "quickly, we must get out into the ruins."

Sonic nods, picking up finitevus and running off.  
Boom knuckles and mephilis run after them, out into the main ruin.

Blue is already waiting for them outside. He grabs boom knuckles by his dreads, holding him over the edge. 

Boom knuckles gives a quick wink to sonic before putting on a panicked expression "AAH NO PLEASE, DON'T DROP ME, ILL FALL " he makes a show of wiggling and trying to reach the ledge. 

Blue cackles "farewell echidna, i hope your girlfriend can raise your child alone"

Boom looks at blue in shock "i... she's "

Blue throws boom knuckles off, cackling "i wonder how much mess he will leave when he hits the floor . Not enough to bury i assume "

Boom knuckles angles himself midair to fall head-first. 

Sonic makes a show of running to the edge and shouting "NOOOO YOU BASTARD ! ILL KILL YOU "

Sonic makes a half-hearted swipe at blue, who teleports behind him, grabbing sonic by the wings. Sonic yells out in pain, blood trickling from incisions where blue's claws had dug into the delicate limbs.

Blue pulls sonic close, running a claw across Sonics neck and moving the bloodied finger to his mouth "ah , delicious ~ . Ive always wondered how you taste"

Blue drops sonic, who plummets to the ground far below. 

Mephilis silently runs at blue, repeatedly punching him, to which blue just laughs.

Blue grabs mephilis by the hand and throws him off the edge, as mephilis falls he sees sonic and boom hiding underneath an outcropping, he quickly flies over to them and hides with them, hoping finitevus will catch on.

Finitevus growls loudly, staring down blue who is now joined by neo.

Blue looks over the edge, with no sign of mephilis flying anywhere "he really didn't want to live, otherwise he'd still be up here"

Finitevus shifts his weight, body charging with negative chaos as he prepares to fight.

Blue puts a hand up slightly, motioning for a ceasefire "ah im all really for a fight, but first i just wish to speak to you "

Finitevus huffs , but makes no attempt to attack. 

Blue purrs slightly "you know that nobody trusts you ~, I'll trust you "

Finitevus exhales in amusement " i don't need their trust"

Blue chuckles "they're going to kill yooouuu . You think yourself powerful, but they've given you weakness. You're not free, join me and we can show our strength together "

Finitevus smirks "good try" he walks over to the edge of the ruin, preparing a warp ring in his hand. 

Blue smiles "surely your goals are beyond them, it would be unfortunate if you were ripped to shreds before you could accomplish your goals "

Finitevus laughs , almost off the edge "unfortunately you'll not be able to do the shredding yourself "

Finitevus drops off the edge, quickly throwing a warp ring, watching as sonic, boom and mephilis quickly go through, before falling through it himself. 

Blue growls, reaching the warp ring just as it closes. They arrive on top of angel island, finitevus quickly stumbling to the master emerald, sitting down by its base , his body covered in bruising quickly healing in its presence. 

Boom knuckles joins him. Looking at the super emeralds scattered around the island. 

Sonic takes a deep breath, laying face down in the grass 

Mephilis sighs "well... neo and blue have joined forces... i.. i don't know if we can beat them"

Sonic streches his wings over his head, running his healing magic along the limbs closing the wounds.

Finitevus goes to stand up but stumbles, grumbling slightly. 

Mephilis looks at him "you okay? "

Finitevus huffs "adrenalines worn off so the pains set in, ill be fine just need a rest"

Mephilis nods "ive got an idea, cmon"

Mephilis motions for sonic, finitevus and boom to follow him .

Boom gets up, obviously used to the pain, helping finitevus with a arm

Sonic gets up, slowly following mephilis. 

They walk into the elevator and wait as they arrive on a lower floor, mephilis opens the door to his room, motioning the three in.

Mephilis leads them to his large bathroom, and turns the tap onto his large hot-tub filling it with water to over the jets.

Mephilis climbs in "id reccomend removing clothing before getting in"

Sonic takes off his shoes and gloves, tucking the gloves into his shoes with his socks. And climbing into the tub, purring slightly at the warmth before moving to the far side and sitting in the water.

Finitevus glances at them, removing his cloak, and quickly undoing the wrapping on his hands and feet, carefully placing his warp rings on the counter before cautiously climbing in.

Boom knuckles undoes his sports tape, undoing his shoes and taking them off . He climbs into the tub, sighing slightly. "Well blue gave me a bit of unexpected news today.. its only been a week or so since julie and i... how could he have known "

Mephilis places a hand on his shoulder "im unsure, he could have been bluffing. We'll run the test on julie to see"

Boom sighs "will i even be a good parent? " his mind flashing back to when he and boom sonic tried looking after a baby... "Chaos i was an idiot back then... last time I looked after a kid i almost put it in a blender"

Finitevus laughs slightly, trying to hide his amusement "a blender?"

Boom knuckles hides his head in his face . Groaning slightly .

Sonic, watching the memory , laughs "holy shit you almost blended the child"

Finitevus places a hand on booms shoulder "don't worry, you have grown much since then. You even admitted it yourself "

Boom knuckles nods. Relaxing into the water.

Mephilis chuckles, pressing a button on the control panel, turning on the waterjets.

Almost immediately he can see the others relaxing into the turbulent water.

Sonic finds himself purring, the jets almost massaging him. 

Mephilis relaxes into the water "its rather relaxing isn't it? I found the design in one of the old human books. 

Mephilis passes cans of alcohol to the others. Sonic nods, taking it and opening it. Sonic takes a swig and leans back, sinking further into the water.

Mephilis freezes, eyes fading to a golden tinted white. 

Sonic looks at mephilis in concern "mephilis?... Solaris??"

Mephilis moves slightly, muttering "Duzo zeyeav cuygni. Fossonbir kuleydena sawadjungu elhel ams . 7 ... 7 to break the cycle... to escape from the simulated reality. Bring us a new path." 

Finitevus looks on in interest "simulated reality? "

Mephilis locks eyes with him , volume increasing "  
The 7 of 7 of 7 o- /// -f 7 of 7 of 7 of 7.  
7 until the end. 7 heroes will make it to the end"

Boom knuckles looks on in confusion "7 heroes?... but 16 people live here... well...13 now "

Mephilis head snaps to look at boom knuckles, voice echoing in his head "7 keys, keys of gaia "

Boom knuckles repeats in confusion "gaia keys?"

Sonic gasps slightly "i know where they all are , the entrances of where the gaia temples are. They returned to their locations after i stopped dark gaia."

Mephilis blinks eyes shifting back to their normal colours "gaia keys? Dark gaia... i ... i don't remember this "

Sonic thinks "it must have been almost a year after we left soleana .. eggman found a way to wake up this thing called dark gaia who split the planet apart and managed to force me into being a werehog "

Mephilis hums in thought "how many years of existence do i not remember? I thought I had woken up immediately after my defeat. But i certainly would remember something like that "

Finitevus places a hand on mephilis shoulder "when you live for centuries you're bound to forget some days"

Mephilis nods "i suppose.. well i assume blue doesn't know about the keys? And... do you know why they're so important?"

Sonic thinks "im unsure, they're magical items but...unless Solaris needs the actual temples? ..."

Mephilis sighs "so no clue why Solaris would need them "

Finitevus chuckles "well we should gather them anyway, but i believe boom would like to speak to su first "

Boom nods, "i just don't .. how did blue know?"

Sonic thinks "its likely that the phantom ruby gave him the knowledge.. and now that he's been enhanced by it "

Everyone is silent, slowly sipping their drinks. 

They hear shadow knock on the door "everyone okay in there? Can we come in?"

Mephilis glances round the tub before replying "yes who is it?"

Shadow opens the door slightly and ivory runs in , immediately jumping into the water

Mephilis pulls ivory into his arms, the white hedgehog hugging mephilis tightly 

Mephilis smiles happily, softly patting his sons spines . Ivory chitters happily, wiggling in the hug until mephilis lets him go . Ivory grins as mephilis picks him up, holding ivory above his head. Ivory laughs as he is held in the air, "daaad im flying "

Mephilis grins "and you're speaking too"

Ivory chuckles slightly " dad taught me , he said i learn quickly "

Mephilis smiles at shadow who is leaning against the wall, by the door "cmon , get in"

Shadow quickly takes his shoes and gloves off, slowly taking off his restrictor bands and placing them gently in his shoes. He walks over to the hot tub and jumps in, next to mephilis. 

Mephilis gently nuzzles shadow, smiling as the dark hedgehog nuzzles back. 

Finitevus find himself smiling as ivory approaches him.

Ivory grabs finitevus' hand , causing a slight flinch from the echidna as ivory's hands brush against his chaos scars.

Ivory smiles at him "uncle fini , we're the same? But different "

Finitevus frowns slightly before smiling, chuckling at the hedgehog. Comparing his white fur to ivory's fur. "Yes we are. " finitevus pats ivory on the head.

Ivory looks at finitevus' chaos scarring, noting that they seem to hum with the same chaos energy as the master emerald 

Finitevus smiles at the hedgehog, watching the hedgehog pulse a soft green in contact with finitevus' scars.

Ivory looks at finitevus confused, finitevus tilts his head to the side slightly before realising what ivory is trying to do. "Oh you precious thing, you can't heal old scars"

Ivory looks at the scars, tilting an ear , before smiling with his sharktooth grin. Speaking in a voice that is not its own "but even old scars fade with time"

Finitevus raises an eyebrow, before smiling sighing through his nose "that they do..."

Sonic stands up, excusing himself from the hot tub , quickly drying off and leaving the room 

Boom knuckles gets out of the tub, looking at finitevus carefully looking after ivory, sighing slightly "master finitevus... can I get some advice.... in private"

Finitevus nods, slowly getting up , wrapping his arms and legs in new bandages, and putting his rings on , following the now dressed boom knuckles out of the room .

Boom knuckles goes up onto the roof, sitting down on the crescent rune on the floor of finitevus' temple. His breath condensing in the cold air.

Finitevus sits opposite him, shivering slightly at the cold "could this not be spoken inside? My room is sound-proofed , i assure you nobody will hear"

Boom knuckles nods, following finitevus down to his room, entering and carefully sitting on the bed. 

Finitevus sits his spinning desk chair, slowly spinning to face boom knuckles. "Go on"

Boom knuckles sighs "look i know you are probably the last person to go to... but.. i don't know how to raise a kid.yet alone mine.. i don't even know how to ask julie if she's, ya know ..."

Finitevus chuckles " you're worried that the kid will be hard to control. And that you don't know how to teach someone to become the next guardian. Don't worry, should they have the mark, i will assist you "

Boom knuckles looks concerned "what is the mark, what if they don't have it..."

Finitevus smiles "the crescent marks the guardians, the innate connection to the master emerald. Should your child not have the mark then you need not worry about training them to be a guardian "

Boom look down at his chest, looking at his crescent mark on his fur. "So... if i never had this mark..."

Finitevus nods "you wouldn't have become the guardian "

Boom knuckles sighs , the realisation of all that happened today, shaking slightly "we could have died today ... i could have never...... oh chaos i don't know anything about childbirth ... how do I handle one how long does it stay inside? How -"

Finitevus chuckles, interrupting him "hush, i will tell you.. echidnas are, different from other mobian races... older and a bit more unique in our spawning experience... most mobians bear live children, whereas echidnas lay a single egg, which continues to grow slightly outside the mother. "

Boom looks confused "an egg?! What if it breaks?"

Finitevus places a hand on booms shoulder "relax guardian, our race would have gone extinct generations ago if our eggs were so fragile "

Boom knuckles takes a deep breath, "why an egg?"

Finitevus chuckles "our race grew too advanced too fast, our females began to struggle birthing our young due to how quickly our brains grew, until such a point that our young were born dangerously premature "

Boom knuckles nods "so they continue growing outside , in the egg? "

Finitevus nods "it was never a perfect solution, our children are still underdeveloped when hatching.. it does however give us an equal footing with other mobians, whose children would be of equal development. " finitevus hums slightly "i believe a book would be useful to you, one moment "

Finitevus carefully types on the communicator , messaging iblis, who quickly responds by opening a portal in finitevus' room. 

Finitevus cautiously approaches the portal "iblis has just healed my old dimension from corruption, don't mind the corpses... many of our race died in albion... well whats left of it... although iblis claims that some may have returned to life as their spirits would not have entered the void"

Finitevus puts on his enerjak mask , waiting for boom knuckles to join him, boom chuckles "i thought your body ached?"  
Finitevus laughs slightly "the spirit of enerjak has recharged me, and that little boost i got from the master emerald earlier is certainly helping "

they both step through the portal.


	20. Albion restored

Finitevus steps out into the dust strewn streets of Albion, boom following behind awestruck at the tall ruins of once beautiful sandy golden skyscrapers. 

Boom looks at finitevus "what happened?"

Finitevus huffs, his sigh echoing through his mask "you have only me to blame... for both times"

Boom stops to pick up a broken wood carving, looking it over "why?"

Finitevus pauses ... unsure of how to answer... "i...i had believed that there was a corruption in the world... the first destruction was me revealing our homelands sacred location to this dimensions Robotnik.... the second was by the enerjak of my creation.. i do not know if he caused more destruction, but when I watched from afar there were people in the debris, struggling "

Boom looks at a broken statue, that seems to bear the same mask that finitevus is wearing. "Is this?"

Finitevus looks at the statue "not the one who destroyed this place, but the one who came before... Dimitri was.. a good echidna, he cared for his people..."

Boom sighs, looking around the empty street "where is everyone? I thought you said there would be at least someone here"

Finitevus looks at him "some left to become the dark egg legion ... others are likely hiding, they know enerjak, they can feel that he has returned ... they know i have returned..."

Boom knuckles doesn't put 2 and 2 together "why would they hide?"

Finitevus chuckles slightly "because guardian, they have come to only expect death and destruction from my presence "

Boom knuckles looks up at the ruins , then feels eyes looking at him from the shadows.  
"Fini... couldn't you just repair the place? It will make it easier to find where we're heading "

Finitevus thinks for a moment "i.... yes, yes i could... you could see our homeland in its former glory. . . But it will not change the people's opinions of me, i have done too much to hurt our kind for a single pennance to heal"

Boom knuckles glances over at where he is being watched from, noticing people huddle further into the shadows "you're helping us, surely people can see you've changed?"

Finitevus thinks on how to restore albion to its former glory. Sighing slightly "i may have changed, but to anyone here im still the mobian that haunts their nightmares... well if not me.. then enerjak "

Boom nods "well surely they recognize me as a version of knuckles "

Finitevus chuckles slightly "that would be the second reason they are cowering away from us, the enerjak who came before me was this dimensions knuckles "

Boom looks at him in shock "oh..."

Finitevus tilts his head back slightly, letting his power flow through him the colour draining from the area as his tainted power flows through the air and ground, 

Boom sees the echidnas hiding in the shadows panic and run, looks back at finitevus, watching as his eyes pour darkness out of them. 

Boom glances back up, the ruined buildings now whole, shining with their golden reflections.  
Finitevus is hovering, slightly off the ground, pouring all his power into restoring his homeland to its former glory, his lungs burning with chaos energy as his body drains itself. 

Boom knuckles runs forward, catching finitevus as he drops down, drained of power. 

Finitevus chuckles slightly, taking a deep breath , huffing in thanks . He stands back up, dusting himself off "gaze upon our homeland, as it once was"

Boom knuckles looks around, the technology of this place is beyond anything he could imagine , he quickly looks as a disheveled female echidna slowly approaching finitevus, speaking to others hiding in the shadows. 

One of them speaks to her , almost hissing at her "he will kill you-"

She speaks back behind her in a sharp tone "if i sacrifice my life to him, he might spare you all... my life might be enough payment "

Finitevus is listening, he stands up straight, at his full height "living in the city i so painstakingly restored would be payment enough "

The echidna nods, nervously thanking finitevus. 

Boom smiles "so where are we going fini?"

Finitevus smiles underneath his mask , leading boom away from the few echidnas who are hiding from him, and towards the grand library. 

Boom smiles "i knew you'd spare them.."

Finitevus chuckles slightly "im enerjak, god of echidnas, it wouldn't do well if all of our kind here went extinct. "

Boom grins "and you even repaired their city for them "

Finitevus looks at him "i repaired it for you guardian, they should live in it , better our kind than the dingos"

Finitevus opens a building, the smell of dusty books flowing into booms nose. Finitevus smiles "we uploaded most of these to computers to access anywhere, but ive always preferred reading from the book."

Boom remembers something, he awkwardly sighs "uhh... one problem, i can barely read... julie's been teaching me but i... haven't made much progress "

Finitevus nods slightly, thinking of a solution, knowing that even with the master emeralds help, learning to read at such an age will be hard .  
Finitevus smiles "i will help you, if you so wish"

Boom nods, smiling. 

Finitevus walks over to a long shelf of books, walking up to the dust covered hardbacks and carefully dusting the spines of a few of them.

He looks over as a brown furred blind echidna wearing a tattered green robe walks towards them , "who's there, what are you doing in our library this place is off limits"

Finitevus chuckles slightly "i am enerjak, I have restored your city, and i am borrowing some of your books as payment "

The blind echidna frowns slightly before laughing "that voice... never mind... enerjak has done nothing good for our kind, it will take more than that to fool an old echidna like me"

Finitevus sighs, using some of his already drained magic to restore the echidnas sight. Watching as he blinks before taking a few steps back in panic "no you've returned, i have to warn the others "

Finitevus chuckles "step outside Remington, i have restored your city. Do not act so harshly on the actions of the past... "

Remington huffs "if you think this ruse is enough for me to leave you in here alone "

Finitevus grins underneath his mask "then we will simply accompany you back outside "

Remington goes to protest but sighs "very well ... ill be keeping an eye on you"

Remington steps outside, gasping slightly as he looks at the restored city "why?"

Finitevus chuckles, crossing his arms "i did this so the guardian of my new dimension could experience our homeland as our ancestors intended "

Remington looks at finitevus "enerjak only brings destruction, thats all the spirit is capable of, why are you -"

Finitevus interrupts him by laughing "enerjak never existed in my new dimension, i have recreated it myself. "

Remington doesn't trust him, "and you're not going to destroy or maim us?"

Finitevus lifts off his mask, smiling at Remington "i am part of something greater, i have a higher purpose "

Finitevus puts his mask back on, walking back into the library, searching for the books.

Boom knuckles stays outside as Remington is stood there taking everything in .  
Boom knuckles smiles at him "how many of us are there ?"

Remington looks at him "... a few hundred of us... barely any compared to our old population "

Boom sighs slightly, looking at the buildings " finitevus says our people were the most advanced race in this dimension "

Remington chuckles slightly "he's not wrong... the way you're speaking, you're not from this dimension are you?"

Boom nods " im from dimension BO-5A ... nicknamed boom dimension , hence my nickname ... i live in alpha 2... im the guardian of alpha 2's master emerald now ... "

Remington thinks slightly, "ah but i haven't introduced myself , im Remington " he sticks a hand out to shake.

Boom knuckles shakes his hand " im knuckles... a version of him at least"

Remington smiles " what in chaos is finitevus doing chaperoning you around?"

Boom scratches the back of his head, "uhh... i found out im gonna have a kid ... i don't know anything about our kind... and when the previous guardian went to join people who want us dead , finitevus took the role of my mentor.. he's more forgiving than my old mentor "

Remington chuckles "even so, its not like him to care about anyone "

Boom nods "my partner gave me that impression when she found out i basically live with him . She's accepted that he's not how she remembers "

Remington sighs stepping back inside the library, with boom following behind. Remington glances at him "she knew dr finitevus? "

Boom knuckles chuckles slightly "uh yeah ... she's from this dimension, apparently she dated this dimensions version of me"

Remington looks at him in shock "julie's alive? She lived after entering that thing? "

Boom knuckles thinks slightly "yes shes alive, she might want to come see you, were you and her close?"

Remington sees finitevus carrying an armful of books, he places them through a warp ring and then continues collecting books.  
Remington smiles at boom "i... i captured her once, and we worked together for a bit .. she was the last person who got dragged into the tear before the wave of ... well i don't know what it was..."

Finitevus shouts from across the library "boom, come here, ive got all the important books for you, just take one history book , it will be good for you to learn"

Boom apologises quickly to Remington before running to find finitevus. 

Remington sighs muttering to himself , sure that finitevus helping people is a trick "im gonna keep an eye on them, as leader of what few of us remain, i have to protect us from him" Remington follows boom knuckles. Watching from afar as finitevus patiently waits as boom struggles to read titles of books

Finitevus gets a message on his communicator, he reads it silently, before muttering slightly and typing back. 

Boom glances at him "anything important?"

Finitevus chuckles slightly "julie's looking for you, apparently she has something important to tell you. Now we know what blue said wasn't a ruse to get us to fight"

Boom picks up a historical book on the master emerald, flicking through it before deciding thats the book he will take "and if he can take you down when you're at full power "

Finitevus is silent for a moment before sighing "lets not dwell on that now .. have you chosen "

Boom knuckles nods "ive chosen .. but master, ive been thinking... Remington said there wasn't many echidnas left ..do you think they'll want to visit our dimension "

Finitevus huffs, crossing his arms "you know im not in charge of that, ask zonic when you get the chance. I see no reason why he wouldn't allow another thing like your home dimension "

Boom quickly types in a message to zonic "what's this dimensions code?"

Finitevus chuckles "alpha prime"

Finitevus hears the sounds of a engine approaching them . "A plane... likely this dimensions sonic... we should leave before we overstay our welcome "

Remington nods "i guess you've got yourself out of the 'apprehend on sight' category... i.. have a lot to explain to sonic and tails... don't know how ill explain it to knuckles he was heartbroken when he heard julie went through one of those things "

Boom nods "i hope you can explain it to them, id love to come visit again.. im sure the others will too"

Finitevus flicks out a warp ring, letting boom through first ,and following after 

Remington sighs deciding that mentioning julie to sonic would be a bad idea...

Prime sonic runs down the street "yo anyone here?"

Remington walks to the front door "sonic!"

Prime Sonic quickly skids to a stop by him "Remington you got your sight back, what happened?"

Remington sighs "its.. complicated . Enerjak gave me my sight back, and our city back to before eggman destroyed it"

Prime Sonic raises an eyebrow "enerjak, but knuckles is fine... who is he" he looks around quickly, ready for a fight.

Remington sighs "thats where it gets complicated... enerjak is.. dr finitevus "

Prime sonic huffs "he must have wanted something from you "

Remington shakes his head "all he did was take a few books"

Prime sonic rolls his eyes "there must be something else he wants from us... he's put us in his debt for what reason?"

Remington sighs "im unsure.. but it feels like he's... changed. "

Prime sonic hums slightly "where is he? Ill spy on him a bit to see if he's planning something "

Remington remembers what the tall knuckles told him "a dimension called alpha-2 "

Prime sonic huffs " hiding in another zone, i thought he'd be above that "

Remington watches prime sonic walk away "where are you going?"

Prime sonic smirks "im going to ask rotor if our star posts still work... ive got a zone to visit."

Prime sonic runs out of the main city of albion , returning to his tails who is waiting on the tornado.

Prime tails smiles at sonic "what caused this.. its beautiful, but wasn't it all destroyed "

Boom sonic sighs slightly "it's confusing, even to me... finitevus restored the place... and he doesn't seem to want anything in return. Im gonna go to the zone he's hiding out in and spy on him"

Prime sonic jumps onto the back seat of the biplane, prime tails looks back at him "will you be safe in that dimension "

Prime sonic smiles "you know me, ill be fine"

They fly back to the old freedom fighter hq, landing the plane on the grass outside, prime sonic jumps off the plane and quickly heads into the small building, "hey rotor, do the star posts still work?"

Prime Rotor looks up from his screen, exosuit activating to help the injured walrus to his feet "yes? Why?"

Prime sonic crosses his arms "ive got bad news finitevus is back... he's somehow become enerjak. Im gonna see what he's up to in this other zone "

Prime sally sits down beside rotor "we've made a ring, it should give you temporary invisibility. But only use it in an emergency. And here's a gem , it will teleport you back here instantly if crushed in your fist"  
Prime Sally hands him the ring and gem , nodding as he puts them on.

Prime Nicole projects herself with nanites "when do you think you'll be back?"

Prime sonic sighs "i don't know, as soon as I find out what finitevus is up to"  
He steps through the star posts as they activate 

He steps onto the interdimensional highway, looking at the taped off dimensions, "yeesh what happened here, even moebius is taped off" he walks towards the closest accessible dimension, realizing its alpha-2 exactly where he wanted to go " okay, jumping into an unknown dimension, never gone wrong before "

He steps through the portal , temporarily blinded by bright led lights.


End file.
